The Estrella
by Sorrelwing
Summary: Sequel to The Outcast. When Jewel catches a rare disease, everyone is terrified when they realize that there is no cure - but a long-forgotten myth could be the only thing that holds the answer. While Bia, Carla, Tiago and some of their friends embark on a perilous quest to find the cure, things take a turn for the worse back home - and not just where Jewel's illness is concerned.
1. A dream

**_At long last, it's here - the sequel to 'The Outcast'! Whoo-hoo! You're probably wondering why it's called 'The Estrella' - 'Estrella' means 'star' in Spanish, and the reason why it is the title will become clear as the story progresses. _**

**_A few months after 'The Outcast', the burned rainforest has grown back and is restored to its former glory. Bia and Azure are as close as ever, their love growing with each passing day. Tiago and Orchid's relationship is growing stronger too, and Carla and Bruno (who are still not in a formal relationship) are getting closer - unfortunately, life isn't always perfect, when two threats emerge to tear things apart._**

**_Love, Sorrel_**

Jewel sat up, blinking at the sights around her. This certainly wasn't home; the last thing she remembered was settling into her down-filled nest, under Blu's wing, and calling goodnight to her three teenaged kids, Bia, Carla, and Tiago. The tree trunk walls, decorated with climbing plants and flowers, had been replaced by flowery branches that had a sweet, dainty scent. She was perched upon a moss-covered branch, and the flowered branches had small, red fruit hanging from them. The fruit looked juicy, and she was tempted to pick one, but then Jewel heard a voice - one she hadn't heard in over nineteen years.

Tears came flooding into Jewel's eyes as she turned around, finding herself gazing at the first face she ever remembered seeing. She had been a hatchling, and had opened her eyes, and found herself looking up at her mother. Jewel's mother, named Tia, had been soft-spoken, kind, and her smile had always been warm and filled with love. Tia had a striking resemblance to Jewel; the same head feathers and turquoise eyes, only her feathers had been rather dark. Now, standing in front of her, Tia looked the exact same, only with a few tiny speckles of light woven through her feathers. She had had the most beautiful singing voice, and Jewel remembered every lullaby she sang. _But mom's dead… if she's here, does that mean I'm…?_

"Don't worry, you're dreaming." Tia assured her. Without a word, Jewel rushed up to her mother, flinging her wings around her.

"I've missed you, mom." Jewel whispered, tears a mixture of both joy and grief trickling from her eyes.

"I've missed you too, darling." Tia replied, her voice full of love and sadness at the same time. Jewel pulled away from her mother, staring upwards, while Tia held her face with her wingtips.

"I… I can't believe you're here!" Jewel exclaimed, eyes shining like a pair of stars. "I haven't seen you in years! Do - do you see everything that happens to the tribe? I've got a mate and three kids, mom!"

"I know - Blu, and then there are those cute little balls of fluff." Tia was crooning. "They're all so beautiful - Bia's so smart, Carla's so talented, and Tiago's just a little bundle of mischief. But that's not why I'm here." Tia's voice turned serious, and Jewel could also hear fear. The fear was also present in her eyes.

"It's not?" Jewel asked, blinking up at her mother. "Then… why are you here?"

"We're here to warn you." Tia answered.

"What do you mean, to warn -" Jewel then stopped speaking, confused. "Wait, who's we?"

"Who do you think?" said a new voice. Jewel turned, and gasped. A young, female Scarlet macaw, with dark brown eyes and a short, spiky collection of head feathers.

"_Adelaide?" _Jewel asked, incredulously. Adelaide bounced forward, giving Jewel a hug.

"Look at you! You look beautiful!" Adelaide exclaimed. Jewel remembered Adelaide's last few moments as clear as day - dying in Jewel's wings, after some branches gave her fatal injuries. It had happened when they were both less than a year old, during the fire that had torn Jewel from her family for nineteen years. Adelaide had been the childhood sweetheart and first love of the Scarlet macaw tribe's leader, Felipe. Unlike all those years ago, Adelaide was now smiling. Jewel found it hard to believe that she had once despised Adelaide.

"Come on, Adelaide -" Tia said gently. "We haven't got much time."

"Oh, right." Adelaide sighed, before the playful look in her eyes vanished. "Jewel, something is coming - a danger."

"A danger?" Jewel echoed. She crossed her wings in frustration. "Fantastic. Who is it this time? Humans? Nigel and the what's-her-name? I'm _sick _of that cockatoo - revenge, honestly! He won't give up - how mature."

"It's neither of those." Said Tia, and Jewel felt a wave of surprise. Tia and Adelaide exchanged dark looks. "There are _two _threats coming to you - and we're terrified that you won't survive either of these threats." It took a few moments for these words to sink in, before Jewel finally found words.

"_What?"_ Jewel whispered, her eyes widening in shock and fear. "No! You - you can't be serious! After all I've been through? Do you know how many times I've almost died in my life? T-there was the fire, the smugglers, that fall to the sea, and-"

"Sssh." Adelaide soothed. "We know, Jewel. These two threats will come, and we must warn you to be strong and do whatever it takes to survive - no matter how much pain you go through."

"You haven't even told me what these threats _are!"_ wailed Jewel, throwing up her wings in frustration, but then the dream began fading very fast. Adelaide and Tia's voices faded, replaced by another. She let out a squawk, her eyes flying open. A pair of wings was shaking her, and a familiar voice was calling her name.

"Jewel! Wake up, you're having a nightmare!" Jewel whipped around, and came face-to-face with Blu, breathing rapidly. Her beloved mate looked worried and alarmed. His dark blue feathers were on end, and the three little feathers on the back of his head were fluffed up. His hazel eyes were full of tension, rare for someone like him. "You were squawking and writhing in your nest - are you okay?" Jewel looked around, her heart beginning to slow down as she looked at the familiar walls of her home. Warm, honey-golden sunlight was streaming in, shining in a blue sky that was dotted with white clouds. She could hear the spray of the waterfall, and hear the excited whoops of chicks as they went water-skiing on the giant Amazon water lilies that scattered the surface of the plunge pool.

"I-I… I'm okay… I'm fine." Jewel stammered, before sinking to the floor. "It was just… a bad dream." Blu wasn't fooled, however, and sat down beside her, wrapping a wing around her. Comforted by Blu's gesture, Jewel pressed against him, closing her eyes, beginning to calm down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blu asked quietly. Jewel briefly considered telling him about Adelaide and Tia's warning, but then she decided not to. She didn't want to worry him, and besides, it was probably nothing. Probably just a dream to scare her - they probably hadn't been the actual Tia and Adelaide, but a figment of her imagination. _But it was so real… it was as if I was actually awake, seeing them alive. _Was there a possibility that it was really Tia and Adelaide, coming down to warn her of a genuine threat? What threat could there possibly be? The area was protected from logging, now - ever since that incident almost a year ago, a sanctuary had been put up by the two humans, Linda and Tulio, to keep this part of the Amazon safe.

"No, it's okay. I was just… no, it doesn't matter." Desperate to forget about her dream, Jewel decided to change the subject. "You're up early, Blu." She commented, looking up at the pocket watch Blu had, hanging up on the wall. It was half past six in the morning, which was incredibly early for her mate. Blu usually woke up in the noon, six hours later than when she woke up. Jewel, a wild-born macaw, had always been an early riser, waking up at dawn - while in contrast, being a pet for the majority of his life, Blu wasn't used to waking up early.

"Well, your father doesn't really appreciate me sleeping in late - and besides, Tiago and Orchid will go wake me with a tarantula if I sleep for too long." At Blu's words, Jewel let out a laugh, the fear of her dream fading.

"Good for you, sweetie - it's about time you woke up earlier - speaking of our son, where are the kids?"

"They went out to the mango trees." Blu replied. "Azure, Orchid, Bruno, and the rest all went out with them. Eduardo went to talk to the leader of the Blue-and-Gold macaw tribe, Johanna, about a section of territory. Mimi's in her spot -" by this, Blu meant the little hollowed rock that Mimi napped in, with flowers and fruit over her eyes. "- and Roberto and Sophia are outside, about to go and meet up with Felipe and Azalea - they invited us along. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure." Jewel shrugged. At the mention the two Scarlet macaws, she remembered Adelaide. While Adelaide had been Felipe's first love, Azalea - the Red tribe's score marker - was Adelaide's cousin. She was also now the mate of Felipe. Neither of them knew about Jewel being there when Adelaide died - and Jewel didn't want them to know. There was no point in causing them the agony of remembering Adelaide's demise.

"Great - I'll be waiting with them outside, just come out when you're ready." Blu kissed her on the cheek, before heading outside. Their voices floated into the nest. "She'll be out in a minute, Roberto, Sophia."

"Sure, Blu - it's unlike you to be up early!" Roberto remarked, brightly. "It's a good thing!" while the three macaws outside went into conversation, Jewel got to her feet, and began smoothing out her feathers. She teased out some scraps of moss, strewn in her feathers from sleep, before rubbing her eyes. _Two threats. Of course, it must have just been my imagination. _

"Hey, Jewel! Ready?" Sophia called.

"Coming!" Jewel replied, turning around and walking toward the entrance. She then let out a yelp as a shooting pain went through her foot. Jewel's foot hung in the air, and she clenched her beak. A kind of Amazon thorn was lying on the floor, and she had just trod on it. A small cut had opened up on the bottom of one of her talons. Cursing under her breath, Jewel watched a tiny droplet of blood drip onto the floor on the nest. Hearing her yelp, Blu looked over his shoulder.

"You okay, honey?" he called.

"I'm fine!" she answered, shaking her foot slightly. "I just trod on a thorn." Jewel, limping a bit, hopped forward, up some roots, and stood in the entrance of the hollow. The three macaws were waiting patiently for her.

"Sleeping beauty rises!" Roberto teased. When Blu gave him a look, Roberto and Sophia both laughed. "Just kidding, honestly, buddy, don't worry - morning, Jewel." Blu looked more relaxed, then - Jewel had a feeling that Blu felt a bit threatened by Roberto, from his ceaseless talent and good looks. But Blu had nothing to worry about - Roberto was her childhood friend, and no more, and besides, Roberto was besotted with his mate, Sophia.

"Morning, Roberto, Sophia." Jewel gave both Roberto and Sophia a friendly smile. "Ready to go?"

"Yes!" Sophia said excitedly. "Let's go, I haven't seen Felipe and Azalea for ages!" Roberto and Sophia then turned, before flying out toward the exit of the ravine, chattering excitedly. Blu turned to her.

"Coming?"

"Of course, of course." Jewel flapped her wings, and within seconds, Blu and Jewel were following Roberto and Sophia out of the ravine. Jewel's foot still stung a little from stepping on the thorn, and she kept looking down at it in irritancy. She'd probably have a little scab under her talon for a few days, since the thorn had been rather sharp. As they flew into the rainforest, she kept thinking of Tia and Adelaide's warning. _Two threats. What could they be? _Jewel shook it off. _You're worrying about nothing… _but then she heard a voice in her head. _Are you? _

**_Don't worry, Bia, Azure, and the others will be in the next chapters. Please leave reviews, and remember to click the follow or favourite button! Thank you! _**

**_(To who have not read my Rio prequels) If you want to learn more about Adelaide, Azalea, and their connection to Felipe, please read 'All of My Heart'. If you want to learn about Jewel's mother, Tia, please read 'Before Jewel Met Blu'. It makes things much easier to understand for you._**

**_All characters that are not featured in either Rio or Rio 2 (i.e: Sophia, Azure, Isaac, Bromeliad, Orchid, Azalea, Adelaide, Tia, etc.) are fan made by me, and solely mine._**


	2. Learning to trust again

The Amazon was alive with the chatter of animals in the noon. The sun was bright in a blue sky, the temperature humid but not terribly uncomfortable. A few months ago, there had been a heat wave that had spelled disastrous consequences for the rainforest. First, the great river had shrunk in the heat. Then, the jungle had become parched as the moisture evaporated. And then, after an incident, there had been a devastating forest fire. The fire had not reached any of the tribes' homes, but it had ravaged an area of the Spix's territory. The fire had scorched the rainforest, showing no mercy to the parched plants. Some teenagers - including Blu and Jewel's three kids - had almost lost their lives in the fire, but they had managed to escape in the nick of time. Bia, Azure and Orchid had been injured, but they had all survived. Before it could spread to the rest of the forest, the fire had been extinguished by a miracle rainfall. Now, the forest was replenished and as healthy as ever with the demise of the heat wave.

A Kapok tree grew, in a spot sitting between the border of the Spix's and the Blue-and-Gold's tribes. It was so old, most of the tree trunk was hollowed out through time. This provided the perfect place to house a samba club. Sitting on a ledge above the entrance, there was a smooth piece of wood. Rough words were carved into it, reading: 'Bem-vindo ao Paraíso', which translated into 'Welcome to Paradise'. Nico and Pedro owned their samba club back in Rio, so Carla had decided to make her own in the Amazon, with more music than just samba. It had only been open for a few weeks, but it was already a huge hit with the tribes and locals. Inside the Kapok tree, the place was alive with music and colour.

Near the higher part of the hollowed-tree, pieces of multi-coloured glass hung. Sunlight streamed in through holes in the trunk, hitting the glass perfectly and sending dazzling colours slashing through the air, colouring the inside of the Kapok tree. Bia had helped Carla put it together, for she knew how to get the glass in the right places. The glass had been recovered from Manaus, since it was the closest city. Various pieces of thin vine tendrils attached them to the ceiling, tied tightly around a strong climbing plant. Flowers and pretty plants grew around the walls.

The sea of dancing birds was multicoloured. Some were macaws of multiple species. The rest consisted of Amazons, cardinals, parakeets, hummingbirds, and countless other species. Several birds were hitting various objects; sonorous metals (metals that made a sound when struck, according to Bia) recovered from Manaus, and drums and all series of instruments made from things found in the Jungle. These instruments made the sounds, while there was a singer to sing the lyrics. The singer varied, since the Amazon was full of talent; today, it was the club owner's turn - Carla's turn to sing, helped by her 'friend', Bruno.

Bruno had the most peculiar set of head feathers, maybe even more unique than that of Roberto and his sons. According to Blu, who knew more about humans than he did flying, Bruno's head feathers resembled that of a human with a so-called 'mohawk' hair style. Bruno, the son of two macaws named Tobias and Isabella, had feathers that were similar to Carla's in colour, with friendly brown eyes. No one was quite sure why Carla hadn't become Bruno's girlfriend yet - it was clear that there was an attraction, but it had been going on for months now. Why they didn't get on with it, some would ask. Carla was secretive - she had kept her first relationship in the dark from Blu and Jewel, until it was discovered after it crashed and burned.

Carla's ex-boyfriend was named Augustus, who was the son of two macaws named Carlos and Manuela. Augustus had regretted what he did, but while Carla had forgiven him, there was no chance that they would ever get back together. They had been together for a few weeks when it happened. Carla had gone off for a few minutes while Augustus and some other teens hung out by the clay licks, and she still remembered hearing their conversation.

_Carla was about to follow the others, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. A pretty-looking stone, with a swirly pattern. She flew over to it, picking it up and turning it. Carla turned back to the others. "Go on ahead, I'm just gonna take this home - Bia likes things like this." Carla felt ever so guilty - Bia had just come last in a race across the ravine, and while someone named Cruz had teased her over her loss, Carla and Tiago had been unsure what to say or do, whether to defend Bia or not from the remark. Bia had looked hurt, and had just left the ravine with their friend, Azure, for the Brazil nut grove. Maybe finding this pretty stone would make it up to Bia, who was rather sensitive when it came to intimidation. _

_Carla flew into the nest, and entered Bia's room, placing the stone alongside her collection of unique shells and pebbles. Feeling better about what had happened, Carla made her way across the ravine with a bounce to her flight, her mind turning to other things. She really did like Augustus - he was so nice, so understanding. Maybe she'd tell her mother and father. They'd find out sooner or later, and now seemed a good time. Reminding herself to tell them later on, Carla flew up the side of the clay licks, heading for the place where her friends were gathered. Mimi, who was perched on the cliff face, was nibbling on some clay. Spotting her in the corner of her eye, Mimi picked up a small talonful of clay. "Hey, Carla! Catch!" Mimi tossed the clay, and Carla rolled in midair before catching the bit of clay. _

"_Thanks, Aunt Mimi!" she said cheerfully, tossing the clay into the air in front of her and snapping it up with her beak. Clay wasn't her favourite food of all, but it did have its benefits. Mimi claimed that it was good for digestion, since it neutralized the acids out of the exotic fruit and nuts macaws ate. Flying past the clay licks, Carla soon heard her friends' voices up ahead. But as she lighted down behind a stone, she heard her name mentioned._

"_Hey, Gus, you know Carla-" it said, and Carla recognised the voice of Cassandra, an older, very popular teen who she didn't especially like. Cassandra was speaking to Augustus right now, since 'Gus' was his nickname. _

"_Yeah, Cassandra?" Augustus replied. Carla peeked out from behind the stone, where Cassandra, Augustus and Cruz were talking about a foot away from everyone else. Tiago was the centre of attention within the others, laughing about his first morning in the tribe, when he had woken up Blu with a spider. _

"_You know your girlfriend?" Cruz asked. "We're quite surprised that you would hang out with her." Carla frowned, and leaned closer, narrowing her eyes, trying to hear the conversation better. Cruz and Cassandra were speaking in hushed voices, as if they didn't want the others to hear. Carla frowned again, looking at the others; Tiago, and Isaac, Bromeliad, and Orchid, Azure's three siblings and the kids of Roberto and Sophia. Were they being so secretive because of them, who were fairly close to Carla? If they were talking about her now…_

"_Oh?" Augustus's eyes flashed. "Why's that?"_

"_Well, isn't she a bit…" Cassandra exchanged a look with Cruz. "A bit - _fat?"_ Carla inhaled sharply, feeling her skin grow incredibly hot. Immediately, she looked down at herself. She wasn't skinny, true - but fat? _No!_ She was curvaceous, a little chubby, but she wasn't fat… was she? Carla's heart thumped loudly, and she felt hot tears spring to her green eyes._

"_Fat?" Augustus repeated. Carla's head whipped up at her boyfriend's voice. "Well…"_

"_You realize that you're hanging out with a chunky, weird city girl who grew up among humans? Do you know how uncool that sounds?" Cruz snorted. Carla then saw uncertainty in Augustus's expression._

"_I think… okay, she is fat." He said nervously. This sentence immediately tore Carla's heart tore in two. Slowly, she emerged from her hiding place, tears falling from her eyes. Cassandra looked up, and gasped._

"_Uh… Carla." She said. Augustus whipped around, eyes widening._

"_C-Carly… I… I didn't mean it. I mean…" Augustus began stammering, which attracted the attention of the others, who turned around. Tiago paused mid-speech, and then he gasped at the sight of his older sister, who was crying._

"_Carla? Are you okay?" he asked, having not heard Augustus, Cruz, and Cassandra's conversation. Carla ignored him, the pain in her eyes transforming to rage._

"_How dare you!" cried Carla, pointing at Augustus with a shaking wingtip. "H-how could you say that about me? Your own girlfriend?"_

"_Carla, I wasn't -" Augustus began, but Carla spun round, and tore off across the ravine. _

"_You did what?" Tiago spun round to Augustus. "What did you say about my sister?" he whipped around, glaring up at Cruz and Cassandra. The two, being older, were taller than him, but he wasn't daunted by their larger stature._

"_Carla, wait, please!" Augustus shouted, ignoring Tiago and rushing after Carla while Cruz and Cassandra began laughing._

"_She's fat!" Cruz laughed, forgetting that Tiago was Carla's brother. There was a brief moment of silence as Tiago took in this information. Tiago suddenly rushed at Cruz, his wing curling, as he punched him in the face._

Watching her brother punching Cruz had been hilarious, but Carla had been too distraught at the time to really care. Augustus hadn't meant it - he had only said it in an attempt to gain popularity with Cruz and Cassandra, who were very popular. After that incident, Carla had ended their relationship. If he had really cared about her, he would have defended her, wouldn't he?

Shockingly, after several weeks, Carla had managed to forgive Augustus, mainly because he was pleading for forgiveness every two minutes and to get him off her back. While she still didn't like him now, they had formed an acquaintanceship, for the sake of everyone else who were friends with both of them. Gus had moved on swiftly from their break up, and was now going out with their friend, Andrea.

"Hey, guys!" Carla bounced onto the 'stage', a pile of branches at the front. Cheers of admiration rang out, along with a few whistles. She blushed, and then she spotted Bruno, before she beckoned him upstage. Grinning at Bruno, Carla turned to the audience. "Ready for some music?" she asked, which they replied to with whoops. "Okay - hit it!" she turned to the birds dotted around the room, and they began hitting the instruments, forming the tune of a human song she had taught them. _Let's hope these guys like 'Boom Clap', _Carla thought. 'Boom Clap' was probably her favourite song at the moment. Carla began singing, joined by Bruno.

Carla knew that Bruno really liked her, and he had asked her to be his girlfriend several times, but she had declined casually by changing the subject or pretending not to hear. Carla really did like Bruno, but, honestly, she didn't want to get hurt again. She knew that Bruno felt hurt himself by her vague response, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth as to why she was hesitant when it came to a relationship. Maybe she'd convince herself to tell him one day soon, but something was preventing her. Would he be upset, knowing that she didn't entirely trust him not the break her heart? Maybe he was better off not knowing the truth. Carla fought with her inner conflict every night, wondering: if she couldn't trust Bruno, of all macaws, could she ever trust anyone with her heart again?

_**Okay, Bia and Azure are in chapter 4 - Tiago and Orchid are up next. The purpose of chapter 2, 3, and 4 is to show where the three couples are now.**_


	3. Up to mischief

"You're absolutely positive that your great-aunt won't kill us for this, right?" Orchid asked, keeping watch to make sure that Mimi wouldn't come back.

"Come on, she can take a joke." Tiago argued, crushing the berries and squeezing the juice into the bowl-like piece of wood that contained some mud. Mimi had put down the mud here, before going to find something to put over her eyes - leaving the mud out, accessible to Tiago and Orchid. Mimi always had a nap at precisely noon – her 'pampering hour'. She would lay there in the shade, in that little hollow in the side of the cliff, with little flowers or fruit over her eyes, and a layer of mud over her face. Neither Tiago nor Orchid could see how having mud over one's face could ever be relaxing. The kind of berries they were putting in this mixture could make a temporary dye, which was a little difficult to wash out. Hopefully, if all went to plan, Mimi's face would turn a shade of purple within the next hour. Also, they had to hope that she wouldn't be too mad. When Mimi and Eduardo were chicks, Eduardo had been picked on by an older chick, and Mimi was said to have slapped the one who did it.

"Hurry up!" whispered Orchid suddenly. "She's coming back!"

"Uh-oh." muttered Tiago, throwing the final drop of fruit juice into the bowl of mud. They barely had time to hide the remaining berries and themselves before Mimi came back. They concealed themselves behind some rocks, peering out and watching Mimi. The plump, older female sat down, and she began covering her face in a layer of mud. The mud seemed to have tinted a slight purplish-brown, but Mimi hadn't noticed. Tiago and Orchid exchanged glances, trying not to laugh out loud. With a yawn, Mimi walked up to her 'spot', plonking herself down and almost immediately beginning to snore.

"So, how long does the dying process take?" Orchid asked, squinting up at the sun.

"Shouldn't take long." Tiago replied. "I tested a moulted feather beforehand -that took just over ten minutes to dye properly, but since Mimi sleeps for an hour, it'll be well and truly purple by the time she gets rid of that mud - now that's a problem. What do we do for an entire hour?"

"We could wake her up early." Orchid suggested, her bright eyes dancing with mischief. "In the mean time, we could go - oh! I know, can we fly over the Amazon river? I haven't done it in ages, and those river dolphins are really funny."

"Great idea." Tiago said, grinning at his girlfriend. "Let's go!" together, they made their way out of the ravine and through the rainforest, speculating excitedly as to how Mimi would react when she woke up. Orchid was very pretty - she had the periwinkle tint to her blue feathers, which was a trait she shared with Bromeliad and Azure, inherited from Sophia. Her eyes were a pretty, pale cerulean, and she had a head of feathers like Sophia's, only she had more and they were messier and fluffier. Orchid also had a more rounded figure, compared to her mother and sister.

"Hey, sis!" Orchid called, waving. Bromeliad looked up, from where she had been preening her feathers on a branch

"Hi!" she waved back, smiling at them both. Tiago remembered his opinion of Bromeliad, a few months back - Carla had had to stop him attacking her, for saying something horrible about Bia. Unfortunately, Bia had overheard, and fled in tears. Since then, Bromeliad had been appalled by her behaviour, apologised to Bia, and vowed to make it up to her. Tiago had been the luckiest, of his brood - no one had turned on him for being different. First, Carla and the incident with Augustus, Cruz and Cassandra, and then Bia and Bromeliad's bitter rift. Tiago had been incredibly lucky - everything had been all fantastic for him. He had the best girlfriend he could ever ask for, and no-body had tried to kill him yet for pranking them. But then again, he had come close to it the other day.

_This was probably a bad idea. It was too late to turn back now, however - Bia had just entered the nest. Tiago watched her from the tangle of roots that spilled into one of the tree's entrances, hidden. She usually read a book at this time of day, and when she went into her book storage hollow, she would be in for a nasty surprise. Quietly as possible, Tiago followed his sister until he was peeking around the entrance to her room. _

_Bia was walking over to the separate little room for her books. Tiago held his breath, watching as she went inside it. Then, a squeal of terror sounded, and Bia came racing out. Tiago bursted into fits of laughter, watching a thin, many-legged black creature crawling out from the hollow. Bia whipped round, scowling at him._

"_You bird-brain! Get it out of here, you know how much I hate millipedes!" Bia was clinging onto her nest, which was off the floor - a piece of wood that grew out from the wall, hollowed out and filled with moss and down for her bedding. The millipede, to Tiago's delight, started crawling toward Bia, who squealed again, picking up a pathetic-looking stick and holding it out at the millipede._

"_Alright, alright!" Tiago pranced over, picking up the millipede. It curled, its legs waving, which caused Bia to flinch. _

"_They're so disgusting! You know that one rare species,____Illacme plenipes, has up to 750 legs? That's horrible! That one you've got there probably has… a few hundred?"_

"_What, do you want to count them?" he teased, holding it up, and Bia shrank away._

"_No! Just get that out, otherwise I'll get mom and dad!" as Tiago flew out of the room, laughing, he dropped the millipede - it fell, but he was too far up to see where it landed. He searched the hollow, and thought he saw something moving near Blu's old fanny pack (it was now fraying and never used, since Blu's reliance on human objects had faded). The zip was open, and he quickly flew over to it, closing the zip before anything went in. He hoped that the millipede hadn't already crawled into it, but before he could check, he heard Orchid calling him, and had to go._

By now, Tiago and Orchid were flying over the Amazon river. Orchid swooped close to the surface, searching the depths for signs of river dolphins. Pale shapes rose, and they began leaping out of the water and back in again. The river dolphins and the macaws of the Amazon seemed to have a bond; whenever a macaw flew to the surface, chances were that they always appeared, letting out their whistles and shooting out sprays of water from their blow holes. Tiago knew that his grandfather, Eduardo, liked the river dolphins, and so did the majority of the tribe. Blu didn't mind them either, but he preferred to keep his distance, to prevent being hit by a jet of water.

"Watch this!" Orchid squawked, before swooping under a dolphin. "Ha! You try!"

"Okay!" Tiago flew along the dolphins, waiting for the best opportunity, before he spotted a high-leaping one. He quickly flew beneath it, emerging with a flying twist. "Aced it!" he announced, triumphantly. Orchid, who was distracted by him, didn't notice a dolphin jumping right next to her. "Oh, Orchid, you might want to -" Tiago's warning came too late, for a dolphin's tail suddenly slapped Orchid in the face.

"Oof!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. The dolphin whistled, as if with laughter, before the entire pod faded back into the watery depths. Tiago laughed, watching her shaking some water droplets off her face, before her eyes narrowed in mock hostility. "Oh yeah?" Orchid's talon then shot toward the water before, and she kicked some at Tiago. He attempted to duck, but the water splashed down onto his head, flattening the ten-odd feathers that stuck up there. Orchid began laughing, pointing at him. Embarrassed, he quickly shook out his head, sending droplets flying, and the feathers almost returned to their original state, only damp.

"Hilarious." He said, while Orchid continued laughing. He then kicked some at her, but she turned and sped away, shooting toward the jungle. Intent on kicking some water at her, he swooped down, found a shell-like piece of wood, and filled it with water, before chasing her into the rainforest.

_Later_

Just as Tiago and Orchid returned to the ravine, they were greeted by an ear-splitting scream, which they recognised as Mimi's. Everyone around them jumped, their wings covering their ears. Orchid bit her lower beak, looking at Tiago. "Sounds like Mimi just woke up." They rushed over toward the source of the sound, and eventually found Mimi staring into a puddle, looking horrified. The once-blue feathers of her face were dyed a violent shade of purple-pink. Blu and Jewel, and Sophia and Roberto were trying to look unamused - and failing. Blu was covering his beak, Jewel was turned away with her beak twisted into a grin she was trying to suppress, Sophia was covering her face, and Roberto's beak was clenched shut to stop him laughing. Even Eduardo, who rarely found things funny, was fighting against a smile as he looked at his older sister.

"Well, Mimi." He said, casting his eyes toward the sky so he wasn't looking at Mimi's purple face. "What happened to _you?"_

"What do you think?" Mimi asked sarcastically, seething when she saw how much they were trying not to laugh. "My_ face! _I just washed the mud off, and look what happened!" Mimi was now frantically washing her face in a puddle. Behind her, Sophia let out a giggle, and when Mimi whirled round, she quickly broke into a fit of coughs to disguise it. While Mimi began frantically washing the berry juice out, she was looking around, searching for any clue that could lead to an explanation. The moment she saw her great-nephew, she would surely suss it, but they were hidden in the foliage. Meanwhile, Sophia and Roberto's beaks were open in soundless laughter.

"Excuse us a minute." Said Sophia, firmly pushing Roberto away toward their hiding place. Tiago and Orchid quickly hid under some ferns as they passed, hoping not to be seen. They were surprised to hear loud, uncontrollable laughter that was out of earshot of Mimi. "I can't - _believe -"_ Sophia was struggling to breathe.

"Poor Mimi, but I can't stop laughing! Do you think it was Orchid and Tiago?" Roberto was doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"I'll bet!" Sophia replied to Roberto. Tiago and Orchid stared at each other, a little fearful, but they were relieved by what Sophia said next. "Let them off - it was only a joke, after all, let's just hope that the dye isn't permanent."

"I'll say." Roberto agreed. "She need never know…" the two adults continued laughing. Orchid and Tiago exchanged amazed looks. Orchid was also rolling her eyes.

"They are so _mature." _Orchid snorted. "Honestly, they act like teenagers…"

_Later_

Luckily, the berry-juice dye had come out after Mimi had washed her face for around twenty minutes. There was still a hint of lilac about her face, but that would come out soon enough. No-one suspected Tiago and Orchid - well, at least not accused them out loud.

After saying goodnight to Orchid, Tiago had headed back home, exhausted from his day. He had said goodnight to his family and friends, and innocently said goodnight to Mimi, who was still flustered from the events earlier in the day. "Hey, mom, dad, sisters." He said as he entered the hollow, yawning.

"Hey, son." Blu called out. Remembering that his mom and dad had joined Roberto and Sophia in visiting Felipe and Azalea, he decided to find out how that went.

"So, how was Felipe and Azalea?" Tiago inquired.

"Oh, they were fine -" Jewel answered, from where she was attempting to yank a sharp-looking thorn from the wall."There's some brilliant news for them, actually, they've -." But Jewel was then distracted by the difficulty of extracting the plant from its stubborn grip on the wall. "This - stupid - thorn -" there was then a loud snap, and Jewel was sent flying as the thorn was unexpectedly ripped away. Tiago's mother landed in a heap, grumbling in embarrassment as Blu rushed over to help her to her feet. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She insisted, brushing him off.

"Are you sure? Look at your foot!" Blu indicated toward Jewel's talon, and it was then that Tiago noticed that there was a small, yet noticeable cut.

"Oh, that was from earlier on - that's why I decided to get rid of the thorn." Jewel put her foot down, hiding the small wound. "Sweetheart, don't worry about it - it'll be gone in a matter of days." Blu still looked a little hesitant, but then he nodded.

"Okay, okay." He said. "I'm sorry, I worry too much, especially after what we found today."

"What did you find today?" said a new voice. Bia was standing in the entrance to her room, and Carla then popped her head out of her one. "You never mentioned anything when we came in."

"It was nothing to worry about," Blu answered. "Some…. some really weird, sick-looking bird approached us earlier, coughing up something…"

"We should warn daddy about that." Jewel suggested, looking rather uneasy. "That illness it had seemed really strange… I've never seen it before."

"What were the symptoms?" asked Bia, but Jewel and Blu shook their heads.

"No, no, don't bother looking it up, sweetie - it's nothing to worry about." Blu was doing his best to reassure her. "The bird'll probably move on soon enough."

"Hmm." Carla looked rather unsettled. "I'll just make sure it doesn't go into my club. I don't want it causing a nuisance."

"Excellent idea." Jewel smiled up at her eldest. "But still, I'm sure it'll be fine." Bia and Carla looked at each other, shrugging, before Bia dropped down the to the floor.

"Oh, dad, I found something from your pack, earlier." She held up a small, rusty-looking screwdriver. "I'll just put it back for you."

"Thanks, Bia." Blu smiled in gratitude at her. But as Bia approached the bedraggled old fanny pack, Tiago then remembered the other day - the millipede had vanished, after he closed the open fanny pack. As he looked at the old brown bag now, he thought he saw it moving ever so slightly.

"Oops." Tiago muttered, as Bia opened the bag.

_**Okay, next chapter should be up in no time - in case I don't publish the next chapter by the 25**__**th**__**, Merry Christmas to you all! (21**__**st**__** December, 2014, in case someone reads this a few months from now)**_


	4. Falling rain

After having yelled at Tiago for accidently (or so he claimed) hiding a millipede in Blu's fanny pack, Bia had headed up to her room with fluffed up feathers. She despised millipedes, after a bad experience with one when she was little. As a few-days-old chick, Bia had been sleeping peacefully in her, Carla and Tiago's comfortable nest. It was the middle of the night, and Blu and Jewel had been asleep, when something had crawled in through the birdhouse's entrance. Of all the five macaws, it had decided to crawl onto Bia.

She had felt something tickling her, and when she opened her eyes, she had found herself staring into its hideous face. Bia, being so young, had screamed in terror, waking up all the family. She had almost given them all a heart attack, but she had never seen anything so disgusting. She hadn't even been outside at all. Her squawk had been so loud, that a light had flicked on briefly in Linda, Tulio and Fernando's cottage. Linda had even opened a window, shining a torch onto the nest to check for a predator, and Blu and Jewel had gone outside to show that everything was fine. Jewel had gotten rid of the millipede (since Blu couldn't stand insects), and it had taken a long time to persuade Bia to go outside for the first time. Ever since seeing the millipede up close, she couldn't stand the sight of one.

With a sigh, Bia sat down in her nest, and took off her moonstone necklace. She and her siblings had gotten one each for their birthdays, a few months ago; Blu and Jewel had gone to Manaus, and gotten human bracelets that were the perfect size for macaw necklaces. Bia had moonstone, Carla had emerald, and Tiago had amber with a little insect frozen inside.

Bia heard her family calling goodnight, and she returned it, before sitting down in her nest. Before she could begin to go sleep, however, she heard a voice. "Hey, beautiful." Bia smiled to herself, and got up, heading for the other exit to her room. This one was a gap in the room wall, covered by a moss curtain, but it was also an exit to outside. When she put the moss aside, she found herself looking up at Azure.

The youngest son of Roberto and Sophia, he was only a few months younger than herself, but he was much taller. Like his sisters and mother, Azure had the slightest tint of periwinkle to his blue, rather fluffy feathers, only the tint was less prominent. But, like Roberto and Isaac, Azure shared the crest feathers. Azure seemed to have more of them than his father and brother, shorter and more numerous. His ones fell more gently, while Roberto and Isaac's flicked out more. Azure did look like Roberto, but his beak shape was different - more curved, rather like her own.

Azure also had a thin scar on his wing - stretching over the radius bone. That had been a souvenir from the fire that had occurred a few months before. Bia preferred not to think about that fire, where she had almost died going back for Azure. She still had nightmares about it.

"Hi," Bia whispered, gazing up at Azure. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"

"Midnight, I know - but I wanted to see you." He flashed a smile. "Are you tired?"

"Not really - why, a fly-about?" Bia felt a warm, inviting breeze ruffle their feathers, and she yearned to stretch her wings and fly on the warm drafts of night air.

"If you're up for it." Azure nodded, looking up at the starry sky. Feeling a surge of excitement, Bia opened her wings, and soared up into the air. When she looked back, she could see Azure following her. The stars were luminous and the moon was large and full, casting a silver glow upon whatever they touched.

Bia knew that 'young love' could be a little cliché, but she had fallen for Azure a long time ago. She loved him, and he felt the exact same way. When she was with him, she felt whole. Content. Peaceful. Safe. Her heart felt warm, and it flickered like a butterfly's wings. If he had died on that day, in that fire, she would never be the same again. The only conclusion was love.

There were several glowing things below, which Bia could identify as fireflies. She knew that the shedding of light by living organisms was known as 'bioluminescence' - she had an entire book for wildlife all over South America. "Hey, watch this." Spotting a mass of them in some branches, Bia folded her wings, diving into the leaves. There was the furious beating of tiny wings as the fireflies swarmed up. Bia flew back up, beside Azure, watching the fireflies emerging. They looked like tiny floating lanterns, before they resettled in the leaves.

"Beautiful." Azure declared, before they lighted down on the branch of a ceiba tree, watching the fireflies. Bia sat down, her legs hanging off the side off the branch, before she settled herself under Azure's wing. She looked at the scar again, feeling regretful that she hadn't reached him faster. Maybe if she had noticed him disappearing, she could've found him quicker and spared him of a scar. Azure followed her gaze, and sighed, as if reading her mind. "It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have been separated from the group."

"I feel guilty, though." Bia admitted, running a wing-tip over the parting of the feathers. "You're so young, and you've got a scar already."

"It doesn't really bother me." Azure was lying - it did bother him. But he cared about Bia more than a silly scar. It wasn't her fault - even if she'd gotten to him quicker, a scar was inevitable. The wound had been what had slowed him down, separated him from the group in the first place.

_Azure felt agony ripping over his wing, as if a knife had slashed through his skin. He let out a squawk of pain, but his cry was unheard by the others - there was too much noise. Dizzied, he looked down at his wing, and his eyes widened in fear. Something warm and red was trickling through his blue plumage, from a deep slash in his skin, coming from the flesh above his radius bone. A gouge ran over it, and he was sure he saw his radius bone through the red. His beak clenched, but he couldn't tell what it was from. It was probably a flying shard of wood. Suddenly, Azure realized that he was having difficulty flying - keeping up wasn't likely. "Guys, I -" but when he looked up, they were nowhere in sight. Panic flooded over him, as he felt the fire's heat increasing. "Bia!" he cried. "Isaac, Orchid, Bromeliad!" he called desperately for his lover and his three siblings, but he heard no answer. Carla, Bruno and Andrea were also nowhere to be seen. In the group's rush, they hadn't noticed him being left behind. _

Azure, not wanting to remember what happened next, shook it off. _Forget about it. So what if I've got a scar? It's not even that noticeable. All I care about is her. _To reassure Bia that he didn't blame her, Azure leaned down, and gave her a kiss. "The fire was months ago." He said, pulling away. "It's time to move on. Nothing bad can happen now."

"You're right." Bia admitted, before nestling closer to Azure. What Azure said was absolutely right - after something as destructive as a forest fire, what more could they be hit with? Life could only get better now.

_A few hours later_

Bia was awakened by the sound of water, dripping down onto the canopy of leaves above them. She blinked when a drop fell onto her head, and she sneezed, which stirred Azure. Azure sat up, and sighed. "Fantastic," Bia commented, standing. "Just what we need."

It was a few hours or less from dawn; despite the cloud cover, the visible parts of the sky had gone that dark blue-gray, making the surroundings look blue-tinted. Suddenly feeling mischievous, Bia reached up at the leaves spreading over their heads, and pushed at the one over Azure. Water cascaded down, and Azure gasped in surprise as the collected water splashed down onto him, flattening the feathers on his head.

"Back at you!" he crowed, shaking the leaves over Bia's head. She dodged, but Azure then snapped off a water-filled leaf, rushing at her. Giggling, Bia turned, and leapt into the air, but she then remembered that it was pouring. Too late - within moments of being airborne, she was drenched in rainwater. "Smart move!" Azure teased, abandoning the leaf and chasing her into the air.

"Not so smart yourself!" Bia pointed out with delight, watching the rain drench Azure. Azure rolled his blue eyes - one of which had an amber fleck - before he began tackling her in a mock play fight. Bia danced away, out of his reach, before lighting down on a branch and ducking under the cover of the tree branches above. Azure landed beside her, before she wrapped her wings around his neck, and kissed him. How many times had they kissed? She'd lost count, but Bia didn't care.

After several moments, Bia pulled away, looking up with adoring hazel eyes. "Come on, we should get back." The sky was beginning to lighten; neither of them had slept at all. Azure grinned, before looping a wing around her.

"Okay. Let's go."

_**This'll be my last chapter of 2014, most likely - I'd like to enjoy the final few days the year with my family and friends, for Christmas and the New Year, away from the keyboard. Merry Christmas, and see you in 2015!**_


	5. Unease

_**I was wrong; turns out I do have some time for a few more chapters before 2015.**_

_**From now on, I'm keeping most OCs out, unless they're major. The minor OCs from the Outcast (for example, let's say Andrea, Augustus, the minor friends and the parents of the other kids) will be kept to a minimum in order not to make things confusing. I should've thought about that in The Outcast, but I didn't until it was too late. From now, the only OCs will really be the main ones (Sophia, Isaac, Bromeliad, Azure, Orchid, Bruno, Azalea, Johanna). Johanna was mentioned in chapter 1, and she's pretty much the only new main OC. She'll play a larger part later on. As for Tia and Adelaide, their parts will be more minor - I'm doing that on purpose, not forgetting about them.**_

_**I'll occasionally mention or show the minor ones, but I won't give them a big part. I'd like to prevent anyone being left out, a frequent issue in books I've read.**_

_**Now, we'll launch into the main plot from this chapter.**_

"Be back later, I'm going out with Sophia." Jewel called over her shoulder as she left the nest. "We'll be at the strawberry guava grove!"

"Okay." she was replied with Bia's voice. Carla was at her club (it was open three days a week, she didn't want to spent the majority of her time there), and Bia was still in bed - she said that she hadn't slept much last night, and that was the case with Azure, too. Jewel suspected that the two had gone out together in the night - she didn't blame them. The night had been clear and this time of year was when fireflies lit up the jungle, so they couldn't have missed a beautiful night. Jewel had watched them from the nest, listening to her mate's snores and seeing the little lights in the air. Blu, Roberto and Eduardo had gone on a patrol. Tiago, meanwhile, had gone to find a tourist boat, so that he could speak to Pedro, Nico, Rafael, and Luiz on the phone.

They did that often - boat trips from Manaus, filled with tourists, always meant that there was a phone available. This was how they kept contact over Autumn, Winter and Spring - the three party birds had learned how to use an old phone (Luiz didn't answer it, he just spoke into it. Being a bulldog with clumsy paws, couldn't press the answer button - not to mention he'd probably break it with his drooling), and Jewel and her family had the number memorized. Whenever the macaws wanted to give them a call, they'd hide somewhere on a touring boat, steal a tourist's phone, and talk to the four that way. Afterwards, they'd just slip the phone back into the tourist's pocket or bag before flying away, unseen.

Before she went, Jewel decided to see if the dye had finally come out of Mimi's feathers. She, personally, highly suspected Tiago and Orchid, but Mimi would be rather annoyed if she found out it was them. The Spix's macaw headed over to Mimi's tree, which was heavily flowered and carried a pungent smell of pollen and flowers. Mimi didn't seem to mind, but it could be overwhelming to anyone else. Jewel wasn't much bothered by it, but most others were. "Hey, Aunt Mimi - has the dye come out?" Jewel was now standing in the entrance to the tree, waiting for her aunt's appearance.

"Thankfully, it has!" exclaimed the familiar voice, and Jewel was relieved to see that Mimi's face was back to normal. "And I still can't figure out for the life of me who did it."

"Well, at least it's out." Jewel sighed, although she personally thought that it was obvious who did it. "Okay, I'm going out with Sophia - bye, Mimi."

"Bye, my little wildflower!" Mimi replied cheerfully, before turning to her breakfast, an assortment of exotic fruit. Jewel smiled at her aunt, before flying off in direction of the ravine exit. Sophia, and to Jewel's surprise, Bromeliad, were waiting for her.

"Hi, Jewel!" Sophia waved as she approached. "Bromeliad's coming with us - she had nothing to do today. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course!" Jewel assured her, giving Sophia's eldest daughter a friendly smile. _How hard to believe, I wanted to wring that girl's neck a few months back, after what happened with Bia. _Jewel and Sophia flew a few feet behind Bromeliad, talking away.

_Meanwhile_

"Doesn't look like the Hyacinths have tried to move the border again," Roberto reported, finding the marker that defined this as a border. The marker was a light blue plant paint; the light blue representing Spix's. The Hyacinths, being so determined to keep to their own territory, had devised the idea originally. Light blue represented the end of the Spix's macaw territory, while dark blue represented the beginning of Hyacinth. From here, Roberto could make out a dark blue streak on the next tree. The marking was known to everyone, so that they knew which tree to look at.

"Excellent." Eduardo nodded in approval. The border marking idea was now only with the Hyacinths - the other tribes now existed harmoniously and in peace, going wherever they pleased. The Hyacinths still wanted to keep the border marker. He turned around, to see his son-in-law eating a piece of mango, while gazing into a tree with a tired expression. "Hey, we're not here to snack." Eduardo reminded him, a hint of amusement at his voice. _It seems funny - I wanted to kill him almost a year ago, but now we're fine. _Blu jumped in surprise, not expecting Eduardo's voice.

"Sorry, Eduardo." Blu quickly threw the mango over his shoulder, in the process accidently hitting Roberto on the back of the head. "Oops - sorry!" he exclaimed.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Roberto shrugged, rolling his eyes in amusement, before sending the mango flying toward the ground with a powerful kick. "It's only mango, afterall."

"Alright,_ vamos." _Eduardo stretched his wings. "I'd like to leave this place before one of their patrols arrive and try to blame us for something."

"I've never actually met the Hyacinths before." Blu mentioned, as they flew back into the heart of the Spix's macaw territory. "What are they like? No-one sees them much." Roberto flipped onto his back, flying upside-down so that he could look at Blu.

"Hope you never do. When I was a kid, I arrived in the jungle for the first time - I hadn't been part of tribe then - and they were a bunch of numbskulls. I fell to the forest floor, and they just laughed. Yeah, that was them then - but they're worse now… much worse." Before Roberto could continue, however, the three males stopped flying, hovering instead at the sight before them.

A battered-looking, Orange-Winged Amazon was doubled over, coughing and gasping for breath. Blu and Roberto exchanged worried looks; that had been the bird they had run into the other day, when they had been with Jewel, Sophia, Felipe, and Azalea. His condition seemed to have gotten worse since then. The Orange-Winged Amazon was coughing up something red - Blu shivered. _Is he coughing up blood? _There seemed to be red patches around his eyes; did Orange-Winged Amazons have that? _Not last time I checked. _The bird looked emaciated and frail, as if he hadn't eaten for weeks on end, and his eyes were dull with exhaustion and agony. Occasionally, his coughing spotted, followed by vomiting. Eduardo, Roberto and Blu flinched in disgust. Blu started flying forward, but Eduardo put out a wing, stopping him from getting any closer.

"Blu, I wouldn't." he advised, and Blu reluctantly backed away. Eduardo then cleared his throat. "Sir… do you need help?"

"No." the Amazon replied in a gruff voice. He looked to be around Eduardo's age, not exactly young but then not old yet. "Mind your own flaming business, and get away from me -" the Amazon then burst into a fit of coughing, and Eduardo, Roberto and Blu sprang backwards as red droplets flew toward them. They looked at each other again, alarmed, keeping well away from the droplets that now stained some leaves.

"You don't look well, mate." Roberto said cautiously, but the Amazon scowled at him.

"Are you _deaf?_ I said mind your own business, and keep that stupid beak of yours out of mine." At the Amazon's reply, Roberto looked rather offended.

"Look, fellow, move along." Eduardo snapped, losing patience. His feathers were on end. "Don't insult my tribe members, move your lazy self out of here before I do it for you -"

"_Alright,"_ the Amazon retorted, coughing up more red drops again. He wiped his wing carelessly over his beak, unknowingly smearing the blood across his face. "I'll _go." _The Amazon staggered away, half flying, half-falling through the trees, muttering about something. Upon hearing one of his murmurs, Blu looked nervously at Eduardo and Roberto.

"I think I heard him muttering about the strawberry guava grove… isn't that where Jewel, Sophia and Bromeliad are today?"

"They are?" Roberto's head snapped up at the mention of the trio; two of them were his beloved mate and daughter, and he had known the other since he was a young teenager. Eduardo especially looked unsettled.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Eduardo muttered, before swiftly following the Amazon parrot. Blu and Roberto exchanged worried looks, before quickly flying after Eduardo. Before following, Blu picked the blood-spotted leaves, and flew down to a small stream, dropping them in. _If he's diseased, he's not spreading it anywhere. _Blu then flew up, after Roberto and Eduardo.


	6. Flaring tempers

While Eduardo, Roberto and Blu were in pursuit of the alarmingly ill Orange-Winged Amazon, Sophia and Jewel continued gossiping while eating strawberry guavas. Bromeliad, having grown bored, decided to wander off and explore the group of trees. She didn't have much interest in finding a boyfriend, like so many girls she knew did - she was in no rush.

Orchid had Tiago, Azure had Bia, and Isaac was often seen flirting with girls - but Bromeliad brushed off comments from hopeful males. She'd meet the right one before beginning a relationship. Bromeliad still couldn't believe that Orchid had one before she did, however. _Who'd have thought it? My baby sister getting a boyfriend before I did. _

Orchid's hatching seemed like yesterday; her egg had hatched last, after a few tense days of waiting and hoping. Bromeliad had stayed up for ages, watching the unmoving egg and hoping for a little sister. She had been born first, Isaac second, and Azure third. She was a little older than her siblings, by almost a week - it had been a surprise when three more eggs had appeared in the nest. Watching the two baby brothers bawling in the night had been annoying. What would a sister be like? A sister had been what she wanted, more than anything.

Three eggs laid at the same time, anyone would expect them to hatch within minutes of each other. Azure and Isaac's had hatched minutes apart; Isaac first, and then Azure came around three minutes later. However, Orchid's egg had been rather small, and Sophia and Roberto had been worried when there had been no signs of life after the hatching of Isaac and Azure. They had watched and waited for days, hoping and praying. Then, after almost a week of tension, the egg had moved slightly. Bromeliad had been so shocked, she had screamed for her parents. Roberto and Sophia had rushed in, followed by the clumsy steps of baby Isaac and Azure, before staring at the final egg. It had been true - the egg was hatching at last, and within minutes, Bromeliad had a baby sister named Orchid. It had been a joyous occasion, one of her fondest memories.

Since the fire a few months back, Bromeliad had really matured. She had once been rather snooty, criticizing Bia for her seemingly endless knowledge, but when Bia had saved her life by pulling her out of the path of some flaming, crashing branches, Bromeliad had felt so much gratitude. A few months on, she was now much more thoughtful and accepting of anyone. She had, however, inherited Sophia's feistiness and her spirit for things, and she could be sharp-tongued.

Bromeliad halted on a branch, some metres from the strawberry guava grove. A ripe, delicious-looking piece of passion fruit was dangling about her; her favourite fruit. Bromeliad proceeded to reach up and pluck it from its branch, but she then paused, upon hearing the rustle of leaves. She looked around, trying to locate the source of the sound, before her eyes landed on an Orange-Winged Amazon. Bia had once showed Bromeliad an image of one, in one her books. But this one looked far from the healthy one in the book. This one had heavy eye bags, he was alarmingly thin, with a red smear on his face and beak that Bromeliad hoped was simply fruit juice. His feathers were ragged and patchy, and she could see that some had fallen out. His eyes were bleak-looking, and he was shivering uncontrollably, like he was freezing. Bromeliad had never seen a sicker-looking creature.

"Sir?" Bromeliad asked, feeling a pang of pity. "Are you okay? You look a little…"

"_Unwell?"_ rasped the Amazon, looking up with enraged eyes. Bromeliad blinked in surprise, alarmed at the look of anger. _What's your problem? _She thought. _I'm trying to be nice. _The Amazon suddenly lurched, and red liquid flew from his beak, onto the branch between them. Shocked and alarmed, Bromeliad staggered backwards to avoid being touched by the blood.

"Well… yeah." Bromeliad's heart was beginning to go faster, as she saw the blood splattering onto the wood. The Amazon looked up, as if not noticing what had come out of his beak, continued scowling at her, as if she'd insulted him greatly.

"Why… of all… is everyone asking me how I am?" the Amazon was speaking in a slow, quiet voice, dangerously quiet. "First that idiot with the feathers on his head… now this thing."

"_Thing?" _repeated Bromeliad, her ocean blue eyes sparking with outrage. "The audacity!" she exclaimed. "How dare you, for your information, I'm not a _thing,_ I'm a Spix's macaw -"

"Shut up, kid." Snarled the Amazon. "You're starting to annoy me. Keep your beak shut, or I'll shut it for you."

"You -" Bromeliad tried to find a scorching comment, but nothing could have prepared her for what happened next. With a squawk of fury, the Amazon threw out his wings, and launched himself at her with outstretched talons. Overwhelmed with shock, Bromeliad only just missed his slashing claws. She didn't have much fighting experience - and she wasn't touching this diseased bird. _"Mom!"_ Bromeliad screamed loudly, desperate to alert her mother as she tried to dodge his swipes. Back in the strawberry guava grove, Sophia's head whipped up at the shriek.

"Bromeliad!" she cried, dropping the strawberry guava in her talon, and racing toward the direction of her eldest daughter's scream. Jewel gasped, and launched herself into the air, after Sophia. Sophia, being a faster flier, got there first, and she, without a second thought, flung herself between Bromeliad and the infuriated Amazon.

"Get away from my daughter, you _idiota!"_ Sophia yelled, using her claws to swipe viciously at the Amazon's head. Bromeliad staggered back, scrabbling away from the fighting, and Jewel rushed up to her.

"Bromeliad, are you alright?" she demanded, and Bromeliad nodded shakily. Jewel whirled around, where Sophia was still trying to rip the Amazon apart. "Sophia!" she exclaimed. "Don't!" Jewel grabbed her friend, dragging her away, but Sophia put up a fight, straining against Jewel to get at the Amazon.

"I'll kill him!" Sophia declared, her temper flaring even more by Jewel's restraint. "He has the cheek to attack_ my_ daughter!"

"It won't make it better!" Jewel was trying to calm her. "Just see to Bromeliad -" suddenly, the Amazon lunged forward, squawking. Jewel, without thinking, shoved Sophia aside, before leaping up with extended claws. "Don't you dare!" Jewel's talons made contact with the Amazon, as she embedded her claws into his wing.

She had fought many times in her life - she could handle this. Jewel pulled fiercely at the Amazon's wing, keeping her grip secure so that she wouldn't go flying with the Amazon fighting back. That had happened a few years ago, and the result had been terrible. She still remembered being thrown against the plane wall by Nigel, the cage falling and crushing her wing. Jewel heard the Amazon screech as she pulled his wing, and she heard a click; she must have pulled the wing from the socket. Jewel began, viciously, tearing out talonfuls of green feathers, barely aware of a dark blue streak in the corner of her eye.

"Jewel!" she felt talons fasten into her shoulders, heaving her back, while Eduardo flung himself onto the Amazon. She spun round, and found herself staring wildly into Blu's brown eyes. Upon seeing him, she calmed down, and stopped trying to attack the deranged Amazon.

"Eduardo, don't!" Blu then shouted. "He's sick, you might catch it!" at this, Eduardo stopped, and backed away. His green eyes burned fiercely; he wasn't letting this numbskull lay a claw on his only child. There was a whoosh of air as Roberto rushed past them, making a beeline for Sophia and Bromeliad.

"Are you both alright?" he asked frantically, scooping Sophia into a hug, and then Bromeliad.

"We're fine." Sophia muttered. "He was trying to attack Bromeliad, but then we…" Sophia wasn't allowed to finish, because they were distracted by the Amazon.

"Fools!" he hissed, glaring at his dislocated wing. He looked up at Jewel with bloodshot eyes. "You'll regret this."

"I hope it hurts." Jewel hissed, spitting onto the branch between them.

"Get out." Snarled Eduardo, breathing heavily. "And don't come back, because if you do, I'll throw you into the middle of the river." The Amazon looked at them all, outnumbered - before clearly admitting defeat by stumbling away, into the branches, clutching his dislocated wing. As soon as the Amazon disappeared, she heard her mate's voice in her ear.

"Jewel, are you hurt?" Blu asked, looking fretful.

"I'm okay." Jewel eased herself out of his wings, stepping back; she then felt something wet under her talon, and looked down. She was standing on a small patch of blood, the talon on which she had trodden on that thorn with a few days back. "Ew." She groaned. Jewel quickly rushed down to the forest floor, sticking her talon into the stream, relieved when the traces of blood washed away. Jewel lighted back down on the branch, her heart beginning to resume to its normal pace.

"Thank goodness everyone's okay." Roberto sighed, where Sophia and Bromeliad were still locked in his embrace.

"Daddy, it's great that you love me and all, but would mind letting me go so that I can breathe?" Bromeliad squeaked, and Roberto immediately released her and Sophia, who continued hugging him.

"That was so horrible." Whispered Sophia into Roberto's ear.

"I'm sending someone to keep an eye on him." Eduardo muttered. "No one attacks anyone - let alone my family and friends." After a few moments of silence and uneasiness, the six macaws began filing out, heading for home. As Jewel flew beside Blu, she was aware of a tingling on one of her talons. She looked down, frowning, before brushing it off and following the others. _It's nothing._


	7. Talking around the firefly jar

"So, you're telling us that you were attacked, for no reason whatsoever?" Isaac's blue-green eyes were wide with shock, mirroring that of everyone else's. Most of the tribe were sleeping peacefully in their hollows, but not all of them were so at ease - most of the tribe were uneasy from the earlier incident. News spread like wildfire.

It was around midnight; it was dark, with a glass jar of fireflies in the middle of them providing light. Bromeliad, all her siblings, and Bia, Carla, Tiago, and Bruno were sitting around the light source in a circle. They were sitting in a small, unused tree. They liked staying up late, and their parents didn't mind as long as it wasn't all night long.

Bromeliad had spent most of the day being examined by their team of healers. The healers were rather loose-knit, and weren't that organised, but due to the seriousness of today's incident, they had been more focused. Most tribes had one or two main healers, and several helpers. Bia had shown interest in healing, and Bromeliad knew that Bia would love to become the tribe's main healer when she was older.

The healing team had asked her many questions, and Bromeliad had insisted that she felt fine, that she hadn't contracted any infection or virus from the sick Amazon - but they had kept her under observation, just in case. Better safe than sorry. It had been nightfall before they had decided that she was fine. The same had gone for Sophia and Jewel, with the all-clear. They were all being kept an eye on, though.

"Yes." Bromeliad answered her brother."You should have seen mom - she tried to kill the guy, but Jewel stopped her before attacking him herself." Bromeliad turned to Bia, Carla, and Tiago. "Your mom was _amazing,_ honestly - she dislocated his wing."

"Really?" Carla's green eyes were round with awe. "Gee, I knew she was a good fighter, but I didn't know she was _that _good."

"You kidding?" Bruno looked at Carla, from where he sat next to her. "My mom and dad were friends with her, when she was younger - you know she fought back against the leader of the Red tribe? He was some guy called Rojo, back then, apparently - Felipe's dad. Real ugly brute, more like a Hyacinth in personality and size, according to mom and dad. He attacked Jewel for accidently crossing the border of the Brazil nut grove. She was only a foot or so in their side! She was a chick, just a new flyer, but she clawed him pretty good."

"Seriously?" Tiago exclaimed. "Our mom is _awesome!" _Azure nodded in agreement, before looking to his right, where Bia was leaning over open book. Her claws were running over the page, under each sentence, searching thoroughly. Her hazel eyes were piercing, scanning each word.

"Anything?" Azure asked, but Bia shook her head.

"No. It's so frustrating!" Bia slammed the book shut, shaking her head in frustration. "I've been looking up bird illnesses non-stop since Bromeliad described the symptoms, and _nothing. _This is the _complete_ book of bird diseases, and there's no such thing in it. Apparently such an illness Bromeliad described either doesn't exist, or is so rare it's not been discovered by humans." She sat down, sighing. Azure put a wing around her, and she leaned against him with a sigh.

"It's gotta be the latter." Orchid suggested, and there were murmurs of agreement from everyone.

"My question is, how did he get it in the first place, if it's so rare?" Isaac murmured, half to them, and half to himself.

"Poor guy must've been the unluckiest one in the entire Amazon." Bromeliad commented. "He was deranged - the illness had driven him mad. Either that or he had serious anger issues. Dad, Blu and Eduardo encountered him before I did, and apparently he was incredibly rude and short-tempered."

"Hmm." Azure was frowning, and looking through the index section of Bia's book. They then heard the rustling of leaves, and turned to see a pair of icy blue eyes on them. It was Augustus's younger sister, Elsa. She was a chick, with extraordinarily long head feathers that were wavy and thick, almost reaching halfway down her back. Elsa also had a younger brother, named Juan - and he was standing beside her. Juan was rather small, with fluffy feathers and a stubby few feathers sticking up together on the back of his head. Elsa and Juan's icy blue and amber eyes were full of curiosity.

The pair were known as 'rambunctious troublemakers', running circles around their parents and older brother. Elsa especially was jokingly known as a 'flying disaster', causing havoc pretty much wherever she went. Things seemed to go wrong whenever she was around.

The other day, Roberto and Sophia had been sweeping up a whole lot of debris from their nest into a neat pile. They had been doing it for hours and the nest had looked unbelievably tidy, and they had been collecting the debris in the middle of the tree floor. The day had been hot, and barely a breeze had blown, until Elsa showed up, asking if they had seen her parents. At that very moment, a fierce wind had blown, sending the neat pile flying and bits of leaf and moulted feathers going everywhere, ruining the tidy nest.

Elsa and Juan seemed to be unable to keep their beaks out of everything - they knew every rumour flying around, and they seemed to be able to hear the faintest whispers of conversation. Most considered them 'nosy'.

"What'cha talking about?" asked Juan, his head tipped to the side.

"None of your business." Sighed Carla. Obviously, anyone who reminded her of Augustus was annoying, in her eyes.

"Shouldn't you two be in bed?" Orchid asked, hoping that the duo would take the hint and let them talk in privacy.

"Shouldn't you?" Elsa inquired. Bruno looked at them all, before getting up.

"Go on, off you go." He indicated toward a tree, home of Augustus and the parents, Carlos and Manuela. "Your mom and dad won't be happy you're both up late -" Bruno paused dramatically, before looking into the bushes with a casual glance. "Maybe we could mention it tomorrow. You know, my mom and dad are always talking to them, maybe they could let them know." Elsa and Juan stared at Bruno, wide-eyed. Chicks always dreaded being told off, these two especially.

"You wouldn't…" Elsa stared at Bruno. "You're bluffing…"

"Oh, but I would." Bruno smirked mischievously, before shouting, not caring about waking anyone up. _"Hey,_ Carlos, Manuela!" at this, Elsa and Juan darted off toward their home as fast as they could; in the process, Elsa knocked over the firefly jar with her tail. Several mutters were heard in the trees around them, but it didn't look as if Carlos and Manuela had woken up at Bruno's shout. They all began laughing, while Orchid picked up the firefly jar and stood it back up.

"You handled that brilliantly." Carla giggled, giving Bruno a hug. As Carla sat down, Bruno gazed at her longingly, before joining her on the floor.

"Okay, back to business." Said Tiago, leaning forward. "What's the news on the sick guy?"

"Well, last time I heard…" Bromeliad searched her memory. "He hasn't been seen since the incident today, but they're tracking him, and ensuring that he doesn't find his way here."

"Good." Sighed Bia. Her expression then turned serious and - to Bromeliad's alarm - slightly fearful. She looked Bromeliad up and down, as if expecting her to cough up blood like the Amazon had done. "Wait - how much contact did you have with the Amazon?"

"Um… not much, I guess." Bromeliad shrugged. "I didn't touch him, I ducked his attacks. As for mom and Jewel… he didn't cough on them, and they both had a wash afterwards, so I think they'll be okay… I feel fine, I don't think I've caught it. The healers looked me over, anyway, so they would've known." there was several moments of silence before anyone spoke again.

"Well…" Isaac rose to his feet. "It's getting late. Can we discuss this again tomorrow?" they all nodded and murmured their agreement, all of them beginning to yawn and blink to keep away tiredness. Azure then released the fireflies from their jar, and they went back to their trees for a night's sleep.


	8. Morte Incomum

"You can never let anything go, can you?" mused Azure, following Bia. Other than her sweet nature, eruditeness and her beauty, that was one of things he loved most about Bia - she was determined, and she never gave up.

"Hey, it's getting on my nerves!" Bia protested. "I don't know, I just have a… bad feeling about the sick bird. He's been missing for days now, and I want to find out what's wrong with him. That's why we're doing this." They both lighted down at the entrance, which was littered with blue and yellow feathers. She took his wing from where they stood. "Ready?"

"Ready." Azure nodded, and they walked toward the cluster of leaves, where there was the sound of chatter and laughter. Azure pushed the leaves apart, and they both gasped. Bia and Azure had heard about the Blue-and-Gold macaw tribe's living area, but neither had imagined it looking so beautiful. Many, large trees that were practically bursting with vibrant colours that were flowers. Not entirely covered, like Mimi's tree - but balanced in with the leaves so that it wasn't too much. Orchids, passion flowers, bromeliads and hibiscus - it seemed as though every kind of Amazonian flower was here.

"Woah." Whispered Bia, in awe, reminded of her great-aunt's fondness for flowers. "I think that this is Mimi's idea of heaven." The Blue-and-Golds cherished colour, peace, and kindness, and they would provide help to anyone who needed it. They believed in acceptance, and from birth they were taught to be kind to everyone around them. They saw no requirement for borders - while they were in place, the Blue-and-Golds went where they pleased. Being the most harmonious tribe, they did accept rules of other tribes - not taking food from other territories, but they were by all means allowed to visit. Except by the Hyacinths, of course.

"You know these guys love flowers and all things pretty so much, that it's their body decoration for their special dance - males included?" Azure was turning in a circle, so that he could see everything. Blue-and-Gold macaws were looking down at them from the flowery trees, with friendly smiles and eyes.

"That's true." Said a silky voice, and they both turned to see a lovely-looking Blue-and-Gold macaw. She was, without doubt, the leader - Johanna. Bia was quite surprised; Johanna was said to have been leader for years, but she looked incredibly young - like Blu and Jewel's age. Her parents had retired early, so Johanna had taken on the responsibility from a young age.

Johanna had warm, green eyes, ones that reminded Bia of a rare plant she had once seen. Like all Blue-and-Golds, Johanna had a blue back, tail, wings, along with the back of her neck and head. The underside of her wings and tail, chest and belly were yellow; but there was something unique about the hues. Johanna seemed to have a slight tint of cream to the yellow feathers, something that neither Bia nor Azure had seen on a Blue-and-Gold. The top of her head was a pretty green that was darker than her eyes. She had white skin around her eyes and beak, with swirling black lines, and a black mark on her throat. Long, flowing feathers formed the ruffle on the back of her head, wavy and reaching the bottom of her neck. "You're Eduardo's granddaughter, aren't you? Bia?" Johanna smiled, extending her wing.

"That's right." Bia smiled back, shaking Johanna's wing. Johanna then turned to Azure.

"And I'm assuming one of Sophia's and Roberto's sons? Which one is it?"

"I'm Azure." Azure grinned, also shaking Johanna's wing.

"Welcome, both of you." Johanna nodded. After several moments, she tipped her head to the side. "So, why are you here?"

"We're here to ask a couple of questions." Bia replied. "Can we talk with you in private?"

"Of course." Johanna nodded. "Follow me." Bia and Azure then followed Johanna, across the trees. Johanna flew with confident wing strokes, making barely a sound as she flew into a vine-draped, flowery tree. "Please, do make yourself comfortable." Johanna indicated around the nest, which was decorated with flowers and plants, rather like Roberto and Sophia's. Bia and Azure sat down on a springy patch of moss, taking in the hollow.

It wasn't quite immaculate - littered with moulted feathers and leaves, but it wasn't too messy. They watched Johanna flitting about, hiding the remains of Brazil nut shells. "Sorry, Alejandro always forgets to tidy up." She said, in an apologetic tone. Despite her rush, Johanna moved with such grace.

Finally, she sat down in front of them, pushing over a passion fruit shell that was filled with the passion fruit flesh. Accepting the offer, Bia and Azure took out some of the fruit, helping themselves to it. After they were done, Johanna took away the shell, tossing it outside. "So, what's on your minds?" she asked.

"You tell her, Bia." Azure said. "You're better at explaining things like this."

"Okay." Bia cleared her throat. "You're a healer as well as a leader, aren't you, Johanna?" the Blue-and-Gold macaw nodded in reply, before Bia carried on. "We're hoping that you can answer our question. It's being really driving us up the wall. Alright - there as this Orange-Winged Amazon the other day. He was… really sick. According to Azure's sister, my dad, and some other witnesses, he had the most unusual symptoms. He was… shaking violently. Feathers falling out, painfully thin. Foul-tempered, red patches around his eyes… and he was coughing terribly. Coughing up…" Bia paused. "…blood. He was vomiting, too, according to my dad. Our question is - have you ever heard of such a disease? None of our healers have." Bia looked up, hoping that Johanna would nod to show she understood - but she looked very confused. "We were hoping you knew what it may be."

"Um… no. Never. Hold on." Johanna turned, and headed over to a large leaf on the floor, before picking it up. Johanna then began shifting through a hole, which had been covered by the leaf. Bia and Azure looked at each other, before walking forward and craning their necks to see inside. Some flat, smooth pieces of wood that varied in size, with tiny black markings that they could identify as writing.

"These are my lists of rare diseases." Johanna explained. "Each piece of wood for one illness. It's got everything there is to know about it - what it's called and why, the symptoms, and the cure for it… if there is a cure, that is. This greenish one is just a list of certain plants that help with general things, like fighting infection and stopping bleeding." Johanna then began muttering to herself as she read the pieces of wood, searching for a match. "No, not that one… no… no…" after a few minutes, Johanna came back up. "Bingo." she began reading out a piece of wood. "The… _Morte Incomum."_

"The what?" Bia blinked. Mimi and Jewel had taught her, Carla, and Tiago some Portuguese, but not those two words.

"It's Portuguese for 'Uncommon Death." Azure stated. As he said this, Azure and Bia looked at each other. Johanna then handed them the piece of wood, allowing them to read.

_Morte Incomum - 'Uncommon Death'. _

_Symptoms - coughing, vomiting, difficulty breathing, fever... _(the rest of the symptoms listed there were almost impossible to read - whoever had written this had loopy, fancy-looking letters that were hard to distinguish)

_Rarity - exceptionally rare. Just under half a dozen cases have been confirmed in centuries, with other rumoured cases over some decades._

_How it is spread - blood or bacteria of the infected making contact with that of another individual. Cannot be spread any other way. Do not touch the patient if you have any scabbing or open wounds. _

_Cure - _

"What's the cure?" asked Azure, immediately. "It's been rubbed off or something..." Johanna opened her beak, about to reply, but at that moment, there was a commotion outside. A male Blue-and-Gold bursted into the hollow, breathing heavily. Bia and Azure exchanged looks of alarm, stepping back as Johanna rushed up to him.

"Alejandro!" Johanna exclaimed. "What happened?" Bia then remembered Eduardo stating that Johanna had a mate, her childhood sweetheart, named Alejandro. Alejandro was tall, with a few feathers lying on the back of his head. He had the same colours in the same places as any Blue-and-Gold, with light grey eyes, and a scar over one eye. It looked as though someone had lashed at his eye with one talon, but he had closed his eyelid just in time, preventing the claw from touching his eye, but etching a scar onto the eyelid and the area around the eye. A second too slow, and he could have damaged his eyesight.

"We've found a case of... what that patrol warned us about." Alejandro blurted out, trying to catch his breath. "The Spix's patrol warned us of a diseased Amazon a few days before today... we found his body." Johanna gasped, alarmed, looking back at Bia and Azure, before turning back to her mate.

"Show me."

_Later_

There he was - the Orange-Winged Amazon. Frothy, blood-spotted saliva had dribbled out of his beak, and his eyes looked like they were made of glass. Johanna buried her face into Alejandro's chest, trying not to be sick. According to Alejandro, the bird had started having a seizure, before he finally died in the most gruesome way. Johanna didn't even want to hear the details, but she was relieved that she had sent Bia and Azure back to their tribe, preventing them from seeing the corpse. They would've had nightmares.

"Johanna?" said a young female Blue-and-Gold. "What do you want us to do with him?" Johanna thought over the options, pausing for several moments as she tried to get over the vile scene.

"Roll him in the biggest leaves you can find." Johanna managed to say at last. "Anyone with the tiniest paper-cut goes nowhere near the body. Touching only the leaves, I want tribe members with steady stomachs to dispose of it. Don't put it in the river, because that could infect the water and any creature that tries to ingest the body. I'll tell you what - find some flint, and burn it."


	9. Realization

Blu and Jewel were perched on a rocky ledge, with a brazil nut between them. Blu hadn't liked them at first, but he had grown to like them after the incident with the loggers and Nigel. Jewel paused in the middle of eating a piece of the Brazil nut, looking at something on Blu's head. "Hey, you know there's a butterfly on your head?"

"Huh?" Blu asked, looking up, where the butterfly was now crawling onto the top of his beak. "Oh, good." He sighed. "I bet I look ridiculous." Blu shook his head slightly, and the butterfly flitted its wings, fluttering into the air between Blu and Jewel.

"Oh, it's so pretty…" Jewel reached up with a wing-tip, and the butterfly landed on it, its pink, yellow and black wings moving up and down slowly. "Bia loves butterflies, I wonder what kind this one is…"

"She can tell you herself now, because there she is… oh, wait." Blu squinted across the ravine. "With Azure, and… is that Johanna and Alejandro?"

"What?" Jewel looked up; it was true what her mate said, Bia and Azure were flying a foot or so in front of the two leaders of the Blue-and-Gold macaw tribe. They seemed to be headed for Eduardo's hollow. Jewel looked at her mate, before setting off after the four, followed by Blu. Leaders of other tribes were rare sights in tribes they didn't belong - everyone was craning their necks to get a look at Johanna and Alejandro, whispering in speculation about the two's reasoning for being there.

"Blu, Ju-Ju!" called a voice. Roberto, followed by Sophia, was emerging from the water-lily pads, where they had been flying over the water surface. "What's going on?" Roberto asked.

"No clue!" Blu replied, and they followed Johanna, Alejandro, Bia, and Azure toward Eduardo's tree, which was the second-biggest in the tribe's, other than Roberto's. Eduardo, having noticed the presence of the two Blue-and-Golds, was standing on a branch, waiting for them to reach him.

"What an unexpected surprise." Eduardo said, as Johanna and Alejandro landed. His pale green eyes flickered to Bia and Azure. "Have these two been causing trouble? I doubt it, personally, but I can't think of any other reason for you being here."

"Grandpa!" Bia protested, rolling her hazel eyes. "Of course not. It's about the bird we encountered the other day."

"She's right." Alejandro explained. "The body of the Orange-Winged Amazon has been found… dead." At this, Azure nudged Bia, and she nodded, before the pair flew off toward a nearby tree, where Isaac, Bromeliad, Orchid, and Tiago were perched, looking over the scene and whispering. Carla and Bruno were at the club, so not in the ravine.

"Dead?" Eduardo repeated, looking a mixture of relieved and surprised.

"Indeed." Johanna confirmed, with a sombre look on her face. "We disposed of the corpse - we burnt it." At this, there were several hisses and mutters from the Spix's tribe members, most of whom had gathered in the nearby trees to listen. Having experienced and nearly been killed in a forest fire -twice - they highly despised fire.

"You risked setting the forest on fire?" croaked an elderly macaw, named Glauco, the oldest substitute of the Pit of Doom team. He was never planning on retirement - he claimed to just have 'early signs of aging', but the entire tribe knew that he was thrice or so times the age of Eduardo.

"No, actually." Alejandro said, turning to the old bird. "We put it in vegetation-free ditch, in a deforested area, where any fire couldn't spread. We used flint, and the ditch kept the burning of the body contained. We watched from a distance, anyway, just in case, and none of the fire exceeded the ditch. The body is well and truly gone, and you can now relax, knowing that there isn't a deranged bird out there." As Alejandro said this, almost everyone seemed to sigh in relief.

"Good." Eduardo sighed. "Thank you for informing us. Do you think that the disease may have been spread elsewhere?"

"A very slim chance." Johanna answered, shaking her neatly-shaped head. "Just fewer than six cases have been confirmed in recent centuries - it's extremely rare, and difficult to spread. It's only able to be spread by infected blood or bacteria making contact with the blood of someone else." While the rest of the tribe murmured in relief, one of them wasn't.

Jewel, too far away to hear, was trying to hold back a fit of coughing. It wasn't just a tickle, however - it was one that made her jolt, her throat to feel raw. After several moments, Jewel began spluttering as she coughed, her blue eyes watering as she did. Blu, Roberto, and Sophia both looked at her.

"Alright?" asked Sophia. Jewel smiled weakly, holding back more coughs. After several moments, Blu, Roberto, and Sophia turned their attention back to Johanna and Alejandro. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, Jewel quickly disappeared into the branches. _Where did that come from? _She thought, incredulously, as the coughing continued. There seemed to be a metallic taste in the back of her throat, becoming more prominent as she coughed more. _Get it together, Jewel, _she thought, holding the coughing back. Her head and neck felt heavy on her shoulders, and her back had a dull ache. Meanwhile, Blu noticed Jewel's absence.

"Jewel?" he asked, looking around. Hearing Blu's calls, Jewel forced down the coughing, and came out of the branches, as casually as possible. "Where did you get to?" asked Blu, looking concerned. "You look…"

"…Not good." Roberto finished his sentence. "You look - a bit - unsettled."

"I'm fine." Jewel insisted, looking down into her reflection, in the water below. It was true - her feathers were fluffed up a bit, and there were dark circles under her eyes from fatigue. She had been having sleepless nights, recently, due to a peculiar feeling over her body. Jewel couldn't figure out what it was, but she didn't want to worry anyone, so she had kept it to herself.

"Sure?" Sophia asked.

"I'm _sure." _Jewel said. "So, what were they saying? I heard he died, but after that…"

"Something about the sick bird, and how his disease could be spread. It was an improbable chance of it being spread - his bacteria or blood making contact with someone else's blood." Blu told her. Blu was looking her up and down, as if looking for something; he was looking for any open wounds, how the disease could make contact with someone's blood. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, getting a terrible feeling in his stomach.

"Oh, leave it out." Jewel snapped, before turning, and flying away. Feeling hurt, Blu stared after her.

"That's unlike her." He said quietly.

"Don't worry, buddy." Roberto clapped Blu on the shoulder. "She had mood swings when we were kids, it's not unheard of." He turned to his mate for back-up. "Right, baby?"

"She did, yeah…" Sophia answered, but she was still staring after Jewel. "Say, Blu, go after her - I'm sure she didn't mean it. Go and… talk to her."

"Yeah… okay." Blu reluctantly turned away, and set off after his mate. As soon as Blu was gone, Sophia turned to Roberto.

"Did you hear Jewel, a minute ago?" she said, in a hushed voice.

"No, sweetheart - why?" Roberto gave Sophia a quizzical look; neither he nor Blu had heard Jewel in the branches, but Sophia had. Sophia's dark blue eyes seemed to have dropped to even darker shade, and her voice was low.

"She was coughing, in the branches. It was… it sounded worse than a normal fit of coughing." Sophia casted a glance toward Blu and Jewel's tree, before looking back at Roberto. "She sounds _ill, _Roberto. She sounds ill."

_Meanwhile_

Jewel leaned heavily against the wall, a wave of nausea washing over her. She wanted to be sick, but she couldn't. Everything felt dizzy. Once again, the feeling came up in her throat, and Jewel lurched forward as she coughed, the metallic taste rising once again. _One more cough, _Jewel thought, feeling that this was, at last, the final one. Her wing flew up to her beak as she let the last cough go. It shook her lungs, but, finally, she knew that the coughing fit was over - for now, anyway.

But as Jewel looked down, she noticed something red, sprayed over the blue feathers. Jewel had to blink several times, making a sense of it. _I must be hallucinating. _Jewel seized a leaf, rubbing it frantically over her wing, but there were still stains, smearing over her wing feathers.

"It's a one-off." Jewel said fiercely. "It's a one-off, it happens all the time, and it's nothing serious." She was trying to convince herself that this was true - when someone had a bad cough, a tiny bit of blood could come up sometimes. But this was more than a drop of blood. That one cough had been_ purely _blood. Jewel's heart was beating furiously in her chest, and she could feel herself beginning to panic as she remembered what had happened, almost a week ago. Jewel had stepped into a pool of his blood. And that foot had had something wrong with it.

Trembling slightly, Jewel looked down, and turned over one of her feet. But she couldn't bring herself to look, to see whether it was still there. With her eyes screwed shut, she traced the area under her foot, with a wingtip. It wasn't gone. The wound was still there, feeling hot. A tiny thorn-cut should've faded days ago, but it was still there. Jewel knew that it couldn't have looked good, but she didn't want to see it.

"Jewel!" called a voice, making her jump. Quickly, Jewel folded her wings, hiding the blood-smears, and she put down her foot. Forcing on a casual expression, Jewel ran out of her and Blu's room, running to answer Blu. As she ran, Jewel forced away the terrible feeling she had, and stifled another cough. _Relax. Be calm. It's nothing. _But Jewel couldn't convince herself. Something was wrong.


	10. Unwanted visitors

"I'm glad that you've all joined us here today." Roberto began, where he and Sophia were perched before Mimi, Eduardo, and Blu. The three looked rather puzzled, and were occasionally whispering to each other, trying to find out why they were here. Roberto and Sophia had been watching Jewel's movements for a couple of days, and now they knew that they had to act. "Sophia has… a matter that she has to discuss with you all, concerning Ju-Ju."

"Jewel?" asked Blu. "I was going to talk to you all about that, actually. Where is she, recently? She leaves at the crack of dawn, when I'm asleep - before any of the kids are up, either, and she just vanishes."

"I noticed that, too." Mimi agreed, where she had been smoothing the small, curling feathers on her head.

"I haven't seen her a lot recently." Eduardo mentioned, his expression full of concern and worry. "I was going to ask you all some questions, as to where she is. My daughter used to spend so much time outside the ravine, when she was a girl, but she always came back several times during the day."

"The thing is, though, she comes back only at _night." _Blu then said. "But she doesn't come inside. She sleeps in the higher branches, where I can't hear or see her." Before any of the three could dscuss any further, Roberto raised a wing, signalling them to be quiet so that Sophia could speak.

"We've got a theory to her behaviour, Blu." Sophia said, her voice low. "We've been watching her leaving, and coming back during the night. She always tends to leave when everyone's still asleep - before you're up, Eduardo, and you're always up first. And when she comes back, Blu, it's always after you go back inside your hollow."

"We've seen you waiting for her to come back, for quite a long time, and it seems the moment you give up, and go inside, she re-enters the ravine." Roberto added. "It's as if she's watching from a hidden spot, making sure that no one's still awake or up, before she finally heads back."

"You don't think it's something to do with me?" Blu asked. "You don't think she's… gone off me, do you?"

"No." Roberto and Sophia both said, at once.

"I severely doubt that, Blu." Mimi assured him. "She loves you a lot, you know. When she came back to us almost a year ago, we were talking for hours on end - what had happened in the past eighteen years or so, and how you two met. She told me how much she loves you." Mimi's words did appear to reassure the former pet - _companion, _Eduardo corrected himself. He now understood that Blu's upbringing wasn't his fault. _I never should've judged him for how he was raised. _

"Okay." Sophia cleared her throat. "Let's get to business. When Johanna and Alejandro were in the ravine to tell us about the sick bird being found dead, Jewel went missing for a minute or two. I heard her. She was coughing."

"Coughing?" Eduardo repeated.

"Yes." Roberto confirmed. "I didn't hear her, but Sophia did. It sounded bad, Eduardo, apparently. Whenever she leaves or comes back into the ravine at dawn or night, she's still coughing. It's been a few days now, since Johanna and Alejandro were here." Roberto looked down at Sophia, hesitant in breaking the news. "Based on her behaviour and her symptoms - we think that Jewel's caught the sick bird's disease." Roberto and Sophia looked up at their three friends, and they were shocked to see that the colour had drained from all their faces. All three were alarmingly still. Blu especially looked like a feathered statue, as still as a stone.

"_How?" _Mimi finally said at last. "How could she have…?"

"We don't know." Sophia murmured. "But she gave that Amazon a pretty savage attack, when he tried to attack me and Bromeliad. I attacked him too, but I feel fine, so I don't understand why…" Sophia's voice died as she ran out of words. Before any of them could speak, however, there was the sound of large wings, beating heavily through the air - not just one pair, but a few.

Roberto and Sophia heard the shaking of branches behind them as something landed. Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu were staring at something behind them; Blu's expression was mingled with fear and surprise, Mimi looked suspicious, and Eduardo looked furious. Wondering what could make Eduardo so angry in a matter of seconds, Roberto and Sophia turned around, before immediately rushing backwards, so that they were on the same branch as their three friends. Roberto had his wing outstretched protectively, across Sophia.

Blu had never seen macaws so large, but when he had lived in Minnesota with Linda, he had looked into his species, done a lot of research in the books of Linda's bookstore. He knew a lot about almost every species of macaw. Now, he could tell that three enormous Hyacinth macaws were perched on the branch before them. All three were a dark, navy blue, and almost twice the size of Eduardo, and they also had yellow skin around their eyes, and a little by their lower beaks. Their iron-grey beaks were enormous, clearly designed to bite through hard nut shells and tough fruits. He had read somewhere that they could even open coconuts. Blu didn't even want to look at their talons, but he had to. He shivered as he took in the long, hooked claws. Those talons could probably wrap around him with no problem at all.

The one in the middle was a female, and she was flanked by two, larger males. The males reminded Blu of bodyguards - well muscled, with sharp claws and rumpled feathers, not to mention a couple of scars. The female, meanwhile, was unmarked. Her feathers were neat, and she had dark, grey eyes that reminded Blu of river stones. She wasn't pretty, but then she wasn't ugly, either.

Initially, he thought that her feathers were complete, but then he noticed patchiness. It looked as though she had put dark blue fruit paint over the patches of skin, to hide them. He had also once thought that she bore no marks, but then he realized that her right foot looked a bit odd. It looked a bit oddly-shaped, the toes gnarled and twisted, some smaller than the others. Her left foot looked fine, however. Maybe she had been born that way, for there were no signs of trauma. She was standing mostly on her left side, her deformed foot lifted slightly off the branch she stood on. As for her age, Blu wasn't quite sure how old she was - but she looked older than Roberto, younger than Eduardo.

"Kerja." Hissed Eduardo, his feathers bristling. "What are you doing here, so far from your territory?" Blu took a step back, behind Mimi.

"Hello, Eduardo." Replied the female, in a honeyed voice. _She sounds too nice, _thought Blu, mistrust pricking at him. Her voice sounded kind, but under that, there was something he couldn't trust.

"Don't use that fake voice." Mimi snapped, clearly undaunted by Kerja's enormous stature. "It's incredibly annoying, you know."

"No need to be rude." Kerja retorted, in a new, grating voice that Blu knew was her true voice. It was very unpleasant, and the tone of it made his skin prickle. "We haven't made a lot of contact much, over the years, have we?" Her dark eyes travelled over the five Spix's macaws, before they landed on Blu, narrowing. "Who's this?"

"My son-in-law." Eduardo replied, curtly.

"Oh?" the area above one of Kerja's eyes rose. "Has your little daughter returned, after all these years? I heard about her going missing." She then smiled sweetly. "What about your wife? What was her name, again? Tia?"

"Shut up!" Roberto almost shouted, making Blu jump. When Blu looked at Eduardo, a distant, anguished look came to his eyes, at the mention of his dead mate. Jewel had told Blu a little about Tia, but he didn't know a lot about her, as he knew that Jewel found it too painful. Roberto was shaking a bit, with rage. "Shut your beak, Kerja. What are you doing in our territory? You know it's strictly forbidden for Hyacinths."

"Admiring the view." Kerja answered, and her two bodyguards snorted a bit with laughter.

"What do you want?" Sophia demanded. "Cut to the chase, and skip the insults and jokes. You obviously have a reason for being here, after so many years." Kerja folded her wings, suddenly looking very bored.

"We have a very small territory, you know. No wonder we strayed here by accident…"

"And piranhas might fly." Mimi snorted. "Every time you turn up, you're after something. Besides, your territory is more than a few kilometres' flight from here, you must have known that this isn't yours." Before anyone could speak again, however, there was a familiar voice, screaming through the trees. The Spix's macaws all knew it, and they whipped round as a green-eyed, fluffy-feathered teenager exploded from some leaves.

"Dad! Mimi! Grandpa!" she cried, looking petrified. In her frenzied state, Carla didn't notice the three Hyacinths, who were exchanging odd looks.

"Carla?" Blu asked, incredulously. "What on earth is wrong with you?"

"You've got to come, quick!" Carla gasped, fighting to breathe. "It's, it's -" Carla began stammering, too panicked to speak properly, until Eduardo finally spoke in a loud voice, silencing her.

"_What?" _demanded Eduardo. Carla looked up at her grandfather, eyes wide with terror.

"It's mom!" she cried.

_**Alright, the next chapter'll be up soon - in case you're wondering what kind of a name 'Kerja' is, it means 'hunter', in Javanese. (Not Japanese - Javanese is from Java). Keep the views going!**_


	11. Earlier

_Some time before_

"Okay guys, we want to thank everyone for their_ phenomenal_ support, and we have an announcement to make." Carla looked down at her audience, with Bruno at her side. "Starting tomorrow, we're changing our opening times, from noon for two hours, to a better time of sunset for two hours - partying is better when it's darker." _It's also more beneficial for our social lives, _both Carla and Bruno thought, privately.

While just three days a week were dedicated to the club, it's opening in the daytime pulled both of them away from their circle of friends. Since neither Carla nor Bruno wanted this, making the opening time later in the day was better, where hanging out with friends was more common during the morning to the afternoon. There were several mutters from the audience, but Carla was glad to see that they weren't too bothered.

"Before we close, Carla's performing a new song!" Bruno announced, and the audience cheered. "It's a song she heard of, when she went on vacation to Rio - she says it's called 'All About that Bass'. Enjoy!" Bruno flew up to a perch above the stage, watching Carla beginning the first lyrics, while their instrument-volunteers found the right instruments for the rhythm. It was really a song where a girl was supposed to sing it, and Carla aced it perfectly.

Bruno ran his wing-tips through his 'mohawk-like' head feathers. That was how Carla described them. He didn't understand why they were that way, sticking up in that fashion - neither his father nor his mother had anything like it. Bruno watched the party-goers in the audience beginning to dance, before flying down himself and vanishing into the sea of colour. Eventually, he encountered some young macaws from his tribe, who beckoned him over in a friendly manner before resuming their dancing. Bruno was more of a singer than a dancer, but he didn't mind it.

A few minutes later, he was then distracted from his thoughts by the conclusion of 'All About That Bass', as the audience began cheering wildly. He knew that they'd like that song - he'd heard it on Carla's iPod, and suggested that she sing that in the club. It looked like it was a hit. While the audience began to leave, Carla threw a couple of woven leaf 'sheets' over the instruments, protecting them from damage. Bruno quickly flew down to help her, pushing the covered instruments to the sides.

"You were amazing, as always." Bruno commented, smiling at Carla.

"Thank you." Carla blushed a bit, returning the smile. _Ask her, _Bruno thought, but just as he was about to ask the question yet again, Carla suddenly spoke. "I'm glad that the sick bird's dead." She remarked, not looking at him. _Can you read my mind? You seem to know when I'm going to ask, 'Will you be my girlfriend?'_

"Yeah, me too." Bruno agreed. Johanna and Alejandro's visit had been a few days ago, and the tribe had been at ease. The last of the locals had left now, leaving them alone. Carla turned to him.

"Ready to go?" she asked, with her dazzling smile. Her smile made him feel warm inside - as if his heart were melting every time she smiled.

"Absolutely." Bruno nodded, following her outside. Together, they pushed the rock slab back over the entrance, so that nothing could get in, before they set off back home. Carla's eyes were beautiful, as green and shiny as her emerald necklace, and her eyelashes were unbelievably long. Carla was a bit chubby, but Bruno didn't care about that. She was curvaceous and looked stunning. She was talented, beautiful, and she had a great sense of humour. He really did like her.

But she didn't seem to like him in _that _way. Either that, or she was purposely not showing it. Whenever Bruno asked her to be his girlfriend, she never replied, by changing the subject or ignoring him. He understood that her first relationship with Gus was terrible, but that was months ago. Surely she was ready to move on? _Doesn't she trust me? _

Bruno and Carla soon arrived back in the ravine, with the songs that had been performed stuck in their heads. Bruno knew that 'All About That Bass' really appealed to Carla - but she didn't truly believe in the lyrics. Bruno had seen some slightly chubby birds in the audience lost in thought, and, within a few more lyrics, smiling and coming out of their shells as they danced 'braver' kinds of moves as Carla sang the song. Bruno knew from Bia and Tiago that, before Augustus, Carla hadn't cared about her size. She had never been that big, anyway.

But after Augustus had called her fat, to peer-pressure, her confidence had dropped like a stone. She wasn't fat; there was nothing wrong with being chubby. Maybe Augustus's words had distorted her reflection, whenever she looked into a puddle, or into a piece of mirror. Carla was always fussing with her reflection, asking Bruno if she looked fat, and, every time, his answer was 'No.' But she never believed him.

"Oh, look." Grumbled Carla. "It's my least-favourite macaw in the ravine." Bruno looked up, and spotted Augustus, sitting with his new girlfriend, Andrea. They were giggling about something, as usual. Bruno rolled his brown eyes.

"Ignore them, Carli." Bruno sighed.

"Ugh, they're so _happy." _She complained, glaring at the two of them. Bruno paused behind her, feeling a little hurt. By not happy, did that mean that she wasn't happy with him?

"Aren't you happy?" Bruno asked, blinking. "You're brilliant, gorgeous, you own the hottest club in the tribe territories, and you've got the best family and friends you could ever ask for. And you've got me, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Carla looked away, before flying in direction of Blu and Jewel's tree. Bruno held back another sigh, looking back at Gus and Andrea. Andrea then spotted him, and she nudged Gus. The two began waving enthusiastically at him, and he waved back, before turning and following Carla. _They can forget, but Carla can't._

When they reached the tree, it was empty, but he remembered seeing Bia and Azure at the star fruit trees, and Tiago and Orchid hanging out with Bromeliad and Isaac. Roberto and Sophia had apparently gone for a private talk with Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu. "Hey, Bruno?" Carla was looking through the niche in her room wall, where her iPod was kept. "Have you seen my mom?"

Bruno thought a bit. He had seen Blu this morning, but not Jewel. Come to think of it, over the last few days, Carla's mother hadn't been around much. Jewel left the nest in the morning, and came back at night, when everyone was asleep. Bruno knew this, because he slept outside of his room, in a cosy place where several branches joined together.

He liked being in the open - he was a little claustrophobic, so being under the open sky was an ideal sleeping place. If it were raining, he'd sleep in his room, but on rain-free nights, sleeping under the stars was absolute bliss. His and his parents' tree happened to be right by the entrance, so they could hear pretty much anyone entering the ravine.

Being outside, a light sleeper, and with a keen sense of hearing, he heard the flapping of wings easily. Bruno had watched Jewel leaving the nest at dawn, and only returning at nightfall. Why, however, was a mystery to him. Where was she, everyday? And why?

"No, sorry." Bruno replied. "Maybe she's in the jungle somewhere? It's the one place she can be, if she's not here. She left the nest this morning, but I haven't seen her since." Carla nodded, before entering her room and hanging her little, emerald-pendant necklace on the wall.

"I guess. She was coughing a bit, last night - it's weird, mom came home super-late, but she slept outside, instead of with dad. I don't know what's up with her."

"Strange." Bruno remarked, and he looked around, taking in the surroundings. Tiago and Carla, while they shared few similarities, did have one thing in common - their rooms looked as if someone had gone on a rampage through them. While Bia's was neat and tidy, everything neatly sorted, her brother's and sister's were a tip. Carla's iPod was kept in a niche in the wall, but that was where order stopped. The floor was covered in feathers and leaves - she didn't bother tidying up. Tiago's was even worse.

There was then the sound of wings; but they were uneven, and they could hear someone panting. Carla looked at Bruno, puzzled, before looking outside the room, and down into the main hollow below. "It kinda sounds like mom." She said. Bruno joined Carla at the edge, looking down. Jewel was leaning against the entrance, breathing heavily. "Mom?" Carla asked. "You alright?" Jewel didn't seem to hear, for she began coughing heavily - not a normal cough, but it was one that echoed around the nest, so that Carla and Bruno could hear it very clearly. She was doubled over, and clutching her chest, as if she were in agony with each cough. Bruno looked at Carla, and he could see the fear coming into her eyes. He himself was very alarmed - that was definitely no ordinary coughing fit. Something was wrong.

"Jewel!" Bruno called, to get her attention. Jewel was now swaying against the entrance, her breaths ragged and shallow, and now, Carla couldn't take it any longer.

"Mom!" Carla shouted, frantically, stretching her wings to fly down.

"C-Ca…" Jewel began, struggling to say her eldest daughter's name. After several attempts, she found whole words. "Get… your father…" Suddenly, Jewel's head rose, and her eyes rolled up in their sockets. First, it looked as though she was leaning forward; but then she went lower, and lower, until it happened all at once. As her eyes slid shut, Jewel collapsed onto the nest floor.

_**This chapter was originally intended for chapter 10, but then I decided to make things more interesting and put it as 11, instead. This also explains why this chapter came so fast. The next chapter will probably be up within a couple of days. **_


	12. Panic

Carla, followed by Eduardo, Blu, Mimi, Roberto, and Sophia, flew as fast as she could, her wings straining in her desperation to get back to her mother. When Jewel had crashed to the floor, Carla and Bruno had frantically tried to wake her, but to no effect. She was still alive, but she had had dark circles under her eyes, and her feathers were ruffled and dirty.

Bruno had sent Carla to find help, for she was faster than he was - and the first ones she could think of were Blu, Eduardo, and Mimi, or Roberto and Sophia. Now, all five were following her, frantic and asking her what had happened, but Carla had no idea why Jewel had collapsed. Up ahead, she saw Bromeliad, Isaac, and Orchid, perched on a branch, and she began shouting at them.

"Guys!" Carla yelled, and they looked up, in surprise. "Where's Bia and Tiago?" she demanded.

"Azure and Bia are at the star fruit grove, and Tiago went to get some water - why, what's the matter?" Isaac replied, looking baffled as to why the six macaws were in such a rush.

"No time to explain, Isaac!" Roberto shouted at his eldest son. "Find them, and bring them back to the ravine! This is important!"

"Why?" Orchid asked.

"Just find them!" Sophia cried, her expression filled with dread; she knew what was wrong with Jewel. "Hurry!"

"Okay, okay, we'll be as fast as we can!" Bromeliad spread her wings, looking disturbed by their behaviour, before turning to her younger brother and sister. "Come on! You two spilt up and find Tiago; he'll be harder to find. I'll get Bia and Azure. _Vamos!" _While Bromeliad sped away to the star fruit grove,Isaac and Orchid went their separate directions, heading for water sources that Tiago would've gone to.

Carla was relieved when the outside of their home melted into view, and they flew through the thin ravine that was the entrance. It opened up, and the plunge pool, waterfall, and dense trees came into sight. There was a small crowd around Blu and Jewel's home, craning their necks to see inside. Very few macaws were in the ravine today, so there were only a few dozen or so. As they got closer, the crowd turned, and moved apart to make a pathway. With Carla in the lead, the six dashed through the crowd, and they rushed into the tree. There she was, still on the floor, with Bruno crouching beside her, calling to her.

"Finally!" Bruno exclaimed, looking relieved, when he spotted them. "Everyone's refusing to touch her, because most of them are afraid of being infected!"

"Jewel!" Blu landed on the floor, running over to his mate's side. At Blu's voice, Jewel twitched slightly, muttering something that sounded like his name. Eduardo too ran to his daughter, calling her, and Jewel began making more signs of life, mumbling. Her eyes pried open a little.

"Guys…" she muttered, in a slurred voice, as she looked at them all. Blu whirled round, to Eduardo.

"Help me get her, she can't stay on the floor." Blu said, staring with desperate eyes. Without hesitation, Eduardo took Jewel's wing, and Blu took the other, and together, they half-dragged, half-carried Jewel to the nearest room, a small, unused one hidden by some kind of climbing plant.

"I'll get some moss, to make her comfortable!" Mimi said in a rapid, frantic voice, before disappearing. They all jumped when they heard Mimi shouting. "Oi! Get out here! She needs space! Go on, shoo!" there was the sound of many wings as the tribe scattered, swiftly obeying Mimi's demand.

"She needs water, too." Roberto stated, staring down at his unmoving friend, before darting away to get some. "And I'll get the healers!" he shouted back, before vanishing. Sophia whirled round, noticing Carla and Bruno, who were standing there, unsure what to do.

"You two wait outside." She said, pushing them out and closing the curtain-like climbing plant, ignoring Carla's protests. _Sorry, kids - you can't see this. _Sophia turned back, running to her friend. Her eyes had closed again, and Jewel was still mumbling and muttering. Blu was holding her face, talking to her, trying to get her to wake fully, but It wasn't working.

"I- I don't understand…" Eduardo whispered, looking stunned beyond belief. "What's wrong with her?"

"You don't know?" Sophia said, staring at them both. "We just told you what she's got."

"But she can't -" Blu stammered. He didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that the sweet, loving Jewel could catch a disease like that bird's. "How? You haven't got it, so how could she? You attacked him as well." but it occurred to Blu and Sophia. Sophia may have landed a few scratches on the Orange-Winged Amazon, but she didn't have any open or healing wounds. They both looked at Jewel's foot, which was huddled up to her, as she were cold.

"What's wrong?" asked Eduardo. Neither Blu nor Sophia replied. Slowly, cautiously, Sophia took one of Jewel's talons, and turned it over, so that the sole faced upwards. Over a week on, and the little wound from the thorn was still there. But it wasn't red, or pink. It was black. The wound was pure black, darker than the grey of her foot, and the black was blooming out on the skin, like a cloud.

"This is why." Whispered Sophia. The three macaws stared at each other, horror slowly beginning to build as they recalled the incident with the Orange-Winged Amazon. The pool of blood on the branch.

"I've got some moss!" they were startled by Mimi's voice, and the short, female macaw came rushing in, her wings full of moss. Mimi, however, took one look at the black would, before she dropped the moss to the floor, speechless. "What… in the name of…" before anyone could tell Mimi about the thorn and the blood, Roberto's silvery voice reached their ears.

"She's right this way, guys… excuse me, Carla, Bruno. Just wait out here, okay?" Roberto quickly entered the room, followed by a few of the healers. They halted a few feet from Jewel, the medical plants in their talons falling to the floor as they saw the black wound. Blu looked up from Jewel, seeing the plants scattered across the floor like the confetti of Linda and Tulio's wedding. The hope he had vanished as he looked at the clueless healers' faces.

"Well?" demanded Eduardo, glaring at the newcomers. "You're healers, get cracking." But the healers looked speechless, and began shuffling their feet.

"Uh…" said one. All of them stared, bewildered by the look of bafflement on all the healers' faces. "We… haven't… seen it before…" there was a long silence. "We don't know how to treat it." He confessed. Eduardo wasn't satisfied by this answer, however. His pale green eyes slitted, resembling pale green ice chips, and Blu knew how that look felt. It was like being thrown into a freezing lake - he had known from experience, in the days after they had found the tribe.

"You listen to me, Mateo." Snapped Eduardo, seizing the healer by the beak. "You look in your herb stores and find every _scrap _of information on this, or you kiss your 'healer' status goodbye."

"But Eduardo, we don't know!"protested a female one. "We're sorry, but we don't know. We generally treat wounds and minor illness, not serious, rare disease." Losing patience, Sophia's periwinkle-tinted blue feathers fluffed up, making the healers cower even more so.

"She needs a_ proper_ healer." The score marker hissed, glowering at the unprepared healers. "Our ones are just bumbling _fools." _Her scathing comment had clearly stung the healers, for they flinched at her tone of voice. Sophia took her mate's wing. "Come on, Roberto. We're going to pay our Red friends a visit. At least they've got a decent healer."

"Excellent idea." Roberto nodded, before turning back to them. "We'll be back as fast as the wind can carry us." He promised, before looking down at his still-unconscious childhood friend. His crest feathers were lifted with tension and panic. "We can't lose her. Not again." Roberto and Sophia quickly left the room, before they remembered Carla and Bruno. Carla was pacing, her wingtips buried in her head feathers; upon seeing them come out, she whipped round, with a hopeful expression.

"What's happening?" Carla begged. Sophia and Roberto looked at each other, not entirely sure what to tell the pair.

"Your mother's a bit sick." Sophia finally said. "Wait for a bit, and then ask if you can go in, okay? Our healers are clueless, and we're seeking the help of the Red tribe's healer." Carla's eyes blazed with anger, that she was being shut out, before emotion took them over. She turned, pressing her face into Bruno's chest, trying not to cry. Bruno wrapped both his wings around her, looking at Roberto and Sophia.

"Go." He murmured.

_Meanwhile_

Bia was nestled very comfortably, against Azure. The remains of a half eaten star fruit lay a few feet away. Star fruit was one of their favourite fruits, but strawberry guavas were undoubtedly their favourites. But everyone seemed to want to avoid it, since a week or so ago. Bia and Azure also wanted to steer clear of it, for another few weeks at least. It had even been advised in an official speech, by Eduardo. Just in case some of the Amazon's bacteria still lingered, if it made contact with someone's blood. Johanna had told them - the smallest cut, and you caught it.

"You know," said Azure, gazing at the blue sky. "I've always wondered what the world looks like, outside the Amazon. I've heard of the human cities, but surely that can't be all? Hey, when you fly from here to Rio and back, what do you see, other than cities?"

"There's the valleys in Bahia," Bia stated. "It's gorgeous - we pass through it, whenever we go to and from Rio. There's other grasslands, and there's other rainforest… the coast is stunning. I'd love to explore outside Brazil some day. Maybe I'll go travelling through a few countries, for just a few weeks. You could go with me, if you want…" Before any of them could say anymore, however, there was the sound of panting. Bromeliad exploded into the star fruit grove, looking very unsettled, and worried. Bia and Azure looked at one another, bewildered, but Bromeliad began speaking before they could ask her what her rush was.

"Thank goodness!" Bromeliad gasped, staggering as she landed.

"Woah, what's wrong?" Azure asked, blinking at his older sister. "You look… panicked."

"You've got to come back," Bromeliad exclaimed, leaning against a tree trunk to catch her breath.

"What?" asked Bia, frowning at her friend. "Why?"

"I don't know, but my parents, Carla, Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu were in a heck of a rush to get back home." Bromeliad answered. "I'm not sure but… I think it concerns Jewel, because she wasn't among them." Bia looked at Bromeliad, this information being absorbed in her brain, before she felt a sickening feeling of dread.


	13. Unthinkable

Roberto and Sophia hid in some leaves, watching the scene with utter dismay. They had been flying into their neighbours' territory for only a couple of minutes when they had overheard an argument, between Felipe and none other than the Hyacinth macaw leader - Kerja. Felipe was standing there, both his wings spread out to hide the two chicks from sight. The older looking chick had vivid green eyes, rather like Felipe, and she sported a similar-looking feather ruffle on the back of her head. The younger-looking one had dark brown eyes, with a collection of short, tousled-looking feathers; she reminded Roberto of someone that he used to know, when he was just over a year old, around the time that Jewel had gone missing from the tribe. _Adelaide. That's who she looks like. _

"I'm telling you now, Kerja!" Felipe snarled. "If you lay a claw on either of my daughters again, I'll kill you."

"If you taught your children about boundaries, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Retorted the Hyacinth macaw, a downy red feather trapped under one of the gnarled talons of her deformed foot. Roberto and Sophia had seen that foot a few times, but it was still rather creepy to look at. Kerja was glowering at the two chicks, her grey eyes slits. The older one was doing her best to stay out of sight, while the younger one's head was held high, her eyes full of fearlessness as she looked at the enormous Hyacinth.

"Normal macaws call it an _accident_." Felipe retorted, the dislike in his glare matching Kerja's._ "_Now, I'm warning you, if you so much _look _at either of them again - I will tear your eyes out, and then I will shove them down your throat."

"Oh dear. _Threats. _How frightening." Kerja's grating voice was heavy with sarcasm, and her eyes glittered with malice from where she stood. Behind her, four Hyacinths began laughing. "Teach your daughters to respect their neighbours. They disrespect us by coming where they're not wanted."

"It was a mistake." Said the younger-looking one, boldly. "You shouldn't overreact to things! We're allowed in everyone else's territories, so you have no right to try and shut us out of yours!" Roberto and Sophia couldn't help but admire her spirit. Despite the spark of outrage on Kerja's face, she didn't look afraid.

"Brave kid!" whispered Sophia.

"Listen to me, you little brat." Kerja snarled. "Keep your mouth shut, and don't act so precocious. That's the issue with kids these days, they think they're so grown-up, but at the end of the day, they're just spoilt hell-raisers. I'm glad I don't have any."

"_I'm_ glad you don't have any. I'd feel sorry for your kids. Who'd want you for a mom?" asked the brown-eyed chick, ignoring Kerja's scathing comment.

"That's enough." Felipe said, looking down at her, warningly. "Adelaide, Leticia, don't ever go over there again, alright?"

"Yes, dad." Muttered the two, glumly. Nodding, Felipe looked back, raising a wingtip to point at Kerja.

"Don't ever touch either of my daughters again." He snapped. "Just because they cross by accident, doesn't mean that you have to any right to attack them. Get out of here, and don't show up at my borders again. Come on, kids." Felipe lofted into flight, with the two chicks following with a rather unsteady flight.

"Let's go." Whispered Sophia, and they proceeded to follow Felipe, Adelaide, and Leticia. However, before they did, Roberto told Sophia to wait. He pointed down at the five Hyacinths. Kerja had stretched out her wing, indicating that her four accomplices follow her; instead of turning back into their side, the five Hyacinths flew deeper into the Red's territory.

"This isn't good." Hissed Roberto. "They lurk around our borders, trespass, and they're doing the same to the Red tribe? After a few years, they pop up out of the blue? Something's going on."

"Come on, Robbie. I know, it's infuriating, but Jewel's health is more important." Sophia pointed out, and Roberto nodded in agreement, but he still looked suspicious, watching the five Hyacinths vanishing into the Red's territory.

"Let's go find Felipe." He muttered, before leading the way, toward the Kapoks that accommodated the Red tribe. Roberto and Sophia hadn't actually been into the Red tribe's home before - they usually met Felipe and his mate, Azalea, at the border. By now, Roberto and Sophia were within a minute of entering the Kapoks. Red flashes in the trees indicated the presence of Scarlet and Green-Winged macaws, and they felt themselves being watched.

"Who's that?" hissed a voice, making them jump. They whirled round, and came face-to-face with two macaws, who had large rocks ion their talons. The male was a Green-Winged, and the female looked like a mixture of Green-winged and Scarlet, based on her wing colours. _Ricardo and Lena, _thought the two Spix's macaws. Ricardo was in the Red's Pit of Doom team, and Lena was his mate.

"Whoa, whoa!" they raised their wings, upon noticing the large rocks. "Easy! It's us." Ricardo and Lena looking them over, once, before dropping the rocks.

"Roberto, Sophia." Lena said, sounding relieved. "Sorry about our… aggressive welcome. We thought you were… someone else. You did look a bit too small and too light a blue to be Hyacinths."

"Hyacinths?" Sophia asked. "They're causing trouble for you, as well? I mean, we did just see Felipe arguing with Kerja, but… we thought that was a one-off."

"No." Ricardo replied. "They're lurking about the border constantly, and we have to keep checking our border markers, to ensure that they haven't been moved." Roberto and Sophia exchanged worried looks. _They're causing trouble here, too? _"Anyway, what do you want?"

"We need to see Felipe, Azalea, Maite, and Miguel." Roberto said. "Please, it's important - as soon as possible. We're here on two matters." They had to tell Felipe and Azalea that the Hyacinths were somewhere in the area, as well as Jewel's illness.

"Well, Maite and Miguel are out, replenishing their medical herbs." Lena informed them. "They'll be back soon; for the time being, we'll take you to see Felipe and Azalea. Have you seen Adele and Leti? Aren't they adorable?"

"I thought they were called Adelaide and Leticia." Sophia looked briefly confused, before she realized. "Oh! Adelaide - Adele, Leticia - Leti. That's cute. We did see them, briefly, and I remember Felipe and Azalea telling us that they had two daughters, a few weeks back." They faded in a comfortable silence, until Lena and Ricardo stopped in the largest Kapok tree. These trees were so large, that they had many separate hollows, perfect for multiple families to live in one tree. Inside, they could hear Azalea fretting over Leti and Adele.

"You could have been killed, girls! Why did you go over there?"

"It wasn't my fault, mommy! It's was Adele's idea!"

"Don't blame me, Leti! Blame the one with the weird-looking foot! We can go anywhere else, so why not there?"

"Adele's got quite some spirit." Lena commented. "She looks so much like the macaw she's named after… it's funny, Azalea and Adelaide were cousins, but Adele looks so much like Adelaide. You'd think that Adelaide had been her aunt, rather than her first-cousin-once-removed. Leti's a bit more bashful and shy, but she's the perfect mixture of her mom and dad. Her father's eyes and head feathers, her mother's looks… Anyway, do go inside. We'll go find Maite and Miguel, and bring them back, if it's urgent."

"Thank you." Sophia and Roberto nodded gratefully at Lena and Ricardo, before entering the hollow. "Hello?" The hollow was littered with downy red feathers and bits of moss, probably from Leti and Adele's antics. Sophia and Roberto's own four had turned their once-tidy nest into a tip, when they were little, even more so than Felipe and Azalea's two had done. Azalea looked up, from where she was scolding Leti and Adele, and a smile came to her face.

"Hey, you guys - everything alright?"

"Roberto, Sophia? Is that you?" Felipe emerged from a room, still looking stressed from what happened earlier, with Kerja. "Great to see you. Allow me to introduce our two girls - Adelaide and Leticia, or Adele and Leti for short. Girls, this is Roberto and Sophia - Spix's macaws." Roberto and Sophia looked down, where the two chicks were standing beside Azalea.

Leti was a little taller than her younger sister, but like Lena had said, she looked like the perfect combination of Felipe and Azalea. Her eyes were literally a mixture - they looked like Felipe's green, at first, but then Roberto and Sophia noticed some hazel around the pupil, like Azalea's.

Adele was shorter; and, like they had acknowledged before, she shared an uncanny resemblance to Adelaide. It was widely believed in the Red tribe that Adelaide had suffered from some kind of mental disability: her mood snapped to another in a heartbeat, and when she got frightened - she got scared unusually easily - Adelaide would either run away in tears or her temper would explode. But this was clearly not the case with little Adele, and they were glad for it. Felipe, Azalea, Roberto, and Sophia rarely spoke about Adelaide. The two Spix's macaws hadn't interacted with her much, but Adelaide's death had been a tragedy.

"Nice to meet you!" Adele said, enthusiastically.

"Hello!" squeaked Leti, the white skin on her face flushing pink.

"She's shy." Azalea smiled, and the shade of Leti's skin went even pinker.

"Aw, mommy." Leti hid behind Azalea's wing, and both Roberto and Sophia chuckled.

"You're both little cuties." Sophia crooned, and the two Spix's spirits were briefly uplifted, seeing the two chicks.

"So, what do you want?" asked Felipe, putting his wing around Azalea, while Leti and Adele settled down between their parents.

"Firstly, we saw what happened earlier." Roberto said. Felipe looked rather embarrassed, but Roberto spoke before Felipe could. "After you left, Kerja and the Hyacinths didn't go back into their side…. They went into your territory, deliberately."

"They what?" Felipe's eyes sparked with rage. "How dare they! They're twisted, I'll see to that!" before anyone could stop him, Felipe had stormed outside. "I need a patrol of ten birds! There's five Hyacinths in our territory!" gasps sounded from the Kapoks, and, soon, about a dozen macaws were flying toward Felipe. "A dozen will do." Felipe said, sounding satisfied. "Go, and get them out. You'll outnumber them, so that should drive them away without any need for combat." the mixture of Green-Winged and Scarlets nodded, turned, and flew toward the Kapok exit. Within a few moments, Felipe re-entered the hollow, looking furious. Azalea frowned, while Adele and Leti blinked their eyes.

"Calm down, sweetie." Azalea said in a soothing tone.

"Sorry." Muttered Felipe. "I just hate it. I'm not setting up a Pit of Doom match, I'm just going to leave it. Besides, I hate to admit it, but they always crush us in those games - they're almost twice the size of the average Scarlet or Green-Winged." There was a long silence, before Sophia felt that it was appropriate to get onto their next order of business.

"That's not the main reason for us being here, though." She said. "There's something more serious."

"We think we're in the middle of a crisis." Said Roberto darkly. "Felipe, Azalea – do you remember the two macaws that came with us, when we met up a few weeks ago? Blu and Jewel; it's Jewel we need to talk to you about."

"There is a serious problem." Murmured Sophia. "She's sick. Really… sick. I don't think that Leti and Adele should hear this."

"Alright." Felipe sounded concerned, distracted from the news of Hyacinths in his territory. "Leti, Adele - why don't you go into your room? There are your multi-coloured pebbles in there, for you to play with."

"Okay!" Leti exclaimed, before scampering off, followed by her little sister. Assuming that the two chicks couldn't hear their conversation, Roberto and Sophia began telling Felipe and Azalea about the sick Orange-Winged Amazon, and the incident between him, Bromeliad, Sophia, and Jewel, where they suspected that Jewel had caught it. They told them about Jewel's strange behaviour and symptoms, how Jewel had collapsed and fallen into unconsciousness - they also told them about the black wound. By the end of it, the two macaws looked alarmed and disturbed.

"My goodness." Whispered Azalea, her feathers rising. "That's why you want to see Maite and Miguel."

"Yes." Roberto nodded quickly. "We need the cure to her disease, and our healers are useless."

"Felipe, Azalea." Said a voice, making them jump. Ricardo and Lena stood in the entrance, accompanied by Maite. "Miguel's just sorting out the herb store, but Maite's available."

"Thank you - you'd better come in, Maite." Azalea said, indicating them to sit down. "Roberto and Sophia have a sick friend…" Azalea nodded at them, indicating that they explain. Roberto and Sophia retold the story to Maite; but when they listed the symptoms, Maite's face filled with dread.

"The _Morte Incomum?"_ Maite asked in a high-pitched voice. "Why, that… there's only been half a dozen cases in recent centuries…"

"Just tell us now." Roberto pleaded, staring at Maite. "What is the cure? Do you have it?" Maite didn't reply for several moments. But by the glazed look in the Green-Winged macaw's eyes, they all knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

"There is no cure." Maite admitted, her voice barely audible. It took a few moments for these words to register in Roberto and Sophia's brains, a few moments for them to really sink in. Finally, Sophia found words.

"…What?" Sophia had to grab her mate for support. "No… you must be mistakened. She's got a mate, three kids… do you even know what she went through, when we were all young?" Sophia shivered, and she had to fight the tears springing to her eyes. "She lost her family. Her tribe, her home… for _nineteen years. _When she came home last year, she told me how many times she's cheated death in her life.You can't tell us now that there isn't a cure for this." Sophia looked at her mate to see his reaction. Roberto had sunk to the floor, his face buried into his wings, and he wasn't making a sound. Sophia knew what he was thinking. Jewel had been his best friend, when they were younger. He had danced in the 'Beautiful Creatures' that had celebrated Jewel's hatching, and he had taught Jewel how to fly. Losing Jewel? Unthinkable.

"Hey, daddy, mommy!" Leti, all bashfulness gone, ran into the hollow, followed by Adele. They had been eavesdropping, and they had an idea. The two began bouncing up and down, barely able to contain their excitement. "What was that story you told us, the other day? About that thing! Wouldn't that cure her?" Roberto and Sophia quickly looked up, as the words reached their ears.

"Leticia, don't be silly." Felipe scolded. "No one believes in such stories..."

"You don't." Maite pointed out. "I do, however - some myths aren't necessarily untrue." Maite looked away, a distant look entering her blue eyes.

"Myth?" Sophia asked, feeling a little bit of hope igniting. "I believe in some myths. Why… what is this, myth?"

"It's a story known by our tribe and the Blue-and-Golds." Azalea began to explain. "It's ancient. Some think it's not real, but… some of us believe it's true, myself included. Alright. I'll tell you the story."


	14. False hope

Some minutes after Roberto and Sophia left, a dozen Scarlet and Green-Winged macaws flew into the Kapoks - three of the dozen were unconscious, hanging from their battered companions' talons. All twelve were covered in bruises, scratches, and they looked beaten and exhausted. Gasps of horror sounded from the trees, and the air was filled with red streaks as macaws rushed down to the twelve. The dozen were ushered to the small Kapok that served as Maite and Miguel's infirmary and herb store. Miguel and Maite were talking outside, but the mass of tribe mates approaching caught their attention. The two healers looked shocked beyond belief.

"What in the name of…" Miguel's beak gaped. "What on earth happened to all of you?"

"What do you think?" mumbled one of them, who was struggling to fly. He was clutching a ragged, navy blue feather. "The Hyacinths happened."

"Right, all of you – no arguing - infirmary, right now." Maite ordered. With that, the dozen injured were all sat against the wall while Maite and Miguel began running around their herb store, looking for the plants that stopped bleeding, healed wounds, and other things they needed. Someone rushed off to alert Felipe and Azalea. Before Maite could run back to her patients, Miguel took her shoulder, stopping her.

"Looks like Johanna's their only option." Miguel murmured, and Maite knew that he was talking about Roberto and Sophia. Injuries were so rare in the Blue-and-Golds - of course Johanna would be able to take care of Jewel. Alejandro was the patriarch, so it wouldn't be left without a leader - and Johanna was selfless enough to help. Maite's plan had been to leave Miguel in charge while she assisted the Spix's macaws, but with injuries being common in their tribe, they couldn't afford one less healer.

"You're right." Maite replied. "I'll get someone to go over and find Johanna."

"Things like this are getting more regular, Maite." Miguel's brown eyes turned dark. "This happened once, with the Glaucous macaw tribe. They were driven out… and they haven't been seen ever since."

_Meanwhile_

Bia bursted into the hollow, landing clumsily on the floor. A few seconds later, Azure and Bromeliad appeared, gasping for breath. Bia looked up, and saw her brother, sister, and friends, all looking anxious: Carla was pacing, restless, while Tiago was sitting, staring at nothing in particular, looking worried sick; Orchid had her wings draped around Tiago, her head resting on his shoulder, looking tense; Isaac's wings were wrapped around his head; and Bruno was chewing on his wing-tips. "Where's mom?" Bia spluttered, clutching her side. Carla whirled round.

"They won't let us in!" she almost wailed. Bia stared at her older sister, before looking at the room she could hear whispering from. Nobody used that room - it had been too dark to really be of much use, and it was full of spider webs. Climbing plants fell over the entrance, but she could see a slight gap, and several blue forms. Bia wasn't taking Carla's reply for an answer, however. She needed to see her mother.

"Stuff that!" Bia exclaimed, pushing past Carla and running up to the climbing plant. She seized the plant, pulling it open like a curtain. Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu's bodies hid Jewel from view, but Bia could hear unsteady breathing, a few coughs. "Mom." Bia whispered. She felt her brother and sister looking over her wings, to get a look, and the shuffling of feet told her that their friends were shuffling behind them, also trying to look in. Eduardo, Mimi, and Blu turned around, but Eduardo stretched out both wings, shielding Jewel from view. He clearly didn't want them to see the state of her.

"Eduardo…" Mimi said, quietly. "Let them see their mom. She wants to see them, anyway." Mimi looked her great-nieces and nephew up and down. "You don't have any open wounds, do you?"

"No." said the two sisters and the brother, in unison, before entering the room. Bruno, Isaac, Azure, Orchid and Bromeliad stood in the entrance, feeling it inappropriate to crowd Jewel.

"Hi, kids." Whispered Jewel, in a feeble voice that shocked the trio. They had never heard her use that tone of voice before. It sounded so fragile. The whites of Jewel's eyes were red, and her turquoise irises looked unusually pale. She was shivering slightly, as if she was cold, but her feathers were damp and dark from sweat. They were horrified when they noticed a black wound on the bottom of Jewel's foot, and there was red in the corner of her beak. _What happened to you? _All three teenagers thought.

"M-mom…" Tiago stammered, looking shaken. "What… happened?" Jewel stared at her three children, trying to find the strength to tell them.

"I…" Jewel began, but she couldn't finish. Blu swept his wing in front of the three, pushing them back, as Jewel began spluttering and coughing. Bia, Carla, and Tiago looked down, seeing red specks on the floor, where they had been standing just seconds before. Alarmed, they looked up at their father, and they were startled when they saw how he looked. The usually calm Blu looked frantic beyond belief, his brown eyes filled with panic and something else: pure terror. None of the three had ever seen such a look. Jewel's eyes glazed with pain, before she closed them, and turned over, her back to them all.

"Your mother needs some rest." said Eduardo, in a shaking voice they had never heard him use before. "Roberto and Sophia just went to Felipe's tribe, to get the cure from Maite and Miguel. They'll be back soon, so we should leave Jewel to sleep." But Carla, Bia, and Tiago didn't move. They couldn't take their eyes off Jewel. "Kids, just… go outside." Without another word, Eduardo pushed the three out, and closed the plant curtain, leaving them speechless.

_Later_

"Guys." Said a flat, dead-sounding voice. Eduardo and Mimi looked up, drowsily. They looked at their sick loved one; Jewel was lying, unconscious yet again, with Blu asleep on the floor. Jewel kept drifting in and out of unconsciousness, and it was making both Eduardo and Mimi beside themselves with worry. To contribute to the unease, Blu didn't seem to care that he could catch the illness, being so close to Jewel.

The voice had come from Roberto, who was standing in the entrance. His tone was shocking to Eduardo and Mimi - he had only used that voice in the days after Tia had died, when Jewel had gone missing. Sophia looked just as depressed, her eyes dull and hollow, and she looked like she might start crying any minute. They looked mournful. "Eduardo, Mimi." Roberto said. "We need to talk. Don't wake Blu up." Eduardo and Mimi looked at each other, rather puzzled - they were even more so confused when they noticed that Roberto and Sophia were empty-taloned. Where was the cure?

The four quietly walked past the three sleeping forms of Bia, Carla, and Tiago - it had taken hours for them to finally drift off. Isaac, Bromeliad, Orchid and Azure had gone back to the tree for an uneasy sleep, and Tobias and Isabella had called Bruno away, for it was getting late. Roberto and Sophia flew up to the higher branches of Blu and Jewel's tree. As soon as the leader and advisor had joined them, Roberto and Sophia braced themselves for their news. "There's something we have to tell you." Sophia confessed, in a wobbly, brittle voice.

Roberto and Sophia then explained everything - their visit to the Reds, their conversation with Maite - and the matter of the cure. As the talk went on, Eduardo and Mimi's expressions changed, the emotions vanishing until there was nothing left - nothing but fear and something the two younger macaws couldn't place. The two looked speechless, not believing their ears. Tears began to stream from Mimi's eyes, and within a moment, Mimi was gone, weeping. Eduardo hadn't moved - he was as still as a stone.

"But the myth!" Sophia exclaimed, sounding desperate. "The myth… its Jewel's only chance!" finally, Eduardo blinked. But then fury entered his eyes, to their surprise.

"Myths…" Eduardo snarled. "Myths do not exist. They are stories for the chicks and the naïve." The rage on his face then increased, making both Roberto and Sophia cower. "False hope!" Eduardo almost shouted. "I expected more of you. You should know better, than to tell me that the only cure is something that does not exist!" Without a word, Eduardo turned, and flew away in silence. As soon as he flew out of earshot of the two, the other tribe members, sleeping in their trees, stirred as they heard the weeping of a male bird. Meanwhile, Roberto and Sophia were left standing there, alone, bewildered by Eduardo's furious outburst. After several moments, Sophia trembled slightly, before a sob escaped her throat.

"He's right," she sobbed, heavily. "How could we believe in a _myth?_ How could we have clung onto false hope? It's too unbelievable to be real."

In the branches below, a small, hazel-eyed girl was standing, unable to move. She had heard every single word. Horrified by what she now knew, she raced back into the tree, calling, frantically, for her brother and sister.

A few minutes later, in Roberto and Sophia's tree, there was the sleeping form of their four teenagers. Isaac was lying, propped against the wall, snoring; Bromeliad was sleeping, her head tucked elegantly under her wing; whereas Orchid was sprawled out on the floor, her wings folded under her chin like a pillow. Azure, meanwhile, was gazing up at the moon, from where it shone in through a large hole in the tree trunk. He had just woken up about a minute ago, but in his sleep, he was sure that he heard somebody crying. He was also certain that he saw Carla, racing away across the ravine, headed for Bruno's tree. Why would she be racing over there, at this time of night? Speaking of lateness, where were his mother and father?

The moon was then blocked out as two silhouettes appeared, in the tree trunk gap. He could immediately tell that it was Bia and Tiago. Why were they here, at this time of night?

"Bia, Tiago?" Azure said. His voice awoke his sisters and brother, for the three began yawning, and blinking drowsily at the two silhouettes. Orchid sat up, smiling at Tiago - but then her smile disappeared as she saw both his and Bia's faces. Tear droplets were trickling down the two's faces.

"What happened?" Bromeliad asked, her feathers spiking up. She and Isaac rose to their talons, looking at Azure and Orchid. Azure immediately stood, sweeping over to Bia and Tiago - his first concern was his girlfriend. Azure stopped in front of Bia, reaching up to touch her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Bia didn't speak - her face only crinkled up as she fought off tears, but she couldn't hold them back. She began sobbing, unable to fight them off. Azure was shocked – Bia was sensitive, but never had she cried like this. "Hey!" he said, in a soothing voice, gathering her in his wings. Bia's wings were thrown around him, and she was weeping into his chest. _What's wrong? _Azure wanted to ask, but he knew that she would be unable to reply. Consumed with worry, Azure looked at Tiago, whose eyes were, while they were spilling tears, blank. He looked traumatized. Orchid was looking up into his eyes, speaking in a low, quiet voice, obviously trying to get him to talk to her.

"Tiago, talk to me." Orchid said, urgently. "What's the matter?" she had never seen Tiago cry before - something had to be wrong. "Is it… Jewel?" she asked, quietly. At this, Azure, Isaac and Bromeliad looked at their youngest sister. Bia shifted in Azure's wings, and then they knew that she was able to speak. They all looked at her, waiting - waiting for an answer. But nothing could've prepared them for what Bia said.

"Mom's dying." Bia whispered.


	15. Who's with me?

"I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am, Carli." Bruno said, quietly.

"What will we do, Bruno?" Carla whispered, in a strangled voice, burying her face into her wings. She leaned on Bruno, hugging her knees. "What will happen to my family? The tribe? We'll fall apart." That was true. Jewel was one of the most respected and beloved macaws in the entire tribe. The devastation would be terrible - she had already been lost before. Bruno was too shocked to believe it himself - he was hoping that this was just some horrible dream. Carla's kindly, sweet mother - was going to die within a few weeks? He felt like crying himself. Jewel was so young - far too young, too innocent. It wasn't fair. His parents were friends with Jewel, had been her friends growing up - how would they feel, about the news? How would Eduardo tell the tribe that their heiress was going to die?

When Eduardo retired, Jewel, as the eldest and only child, would become the tribe's leader, with Blu at her side. But if Jewel died… who would take Eduardo's place? And, more worryingly - there was the question of Blu. Carla had told Bruno of Blu and Jewel's love story, shortly after they first met. Blu would rather leap out of a plane, unable to fly, than live without Jewel. If Jewel died - would he be able to live without her?

Tobias and Isabella had told Bruno that when Tia died, Eduardo had gone into a long period of grief that had lasted for over a year. He had been so depressed, that Mimi had had to take care of the position of leader until he finally snapped out of his trance and pulled himself together. The scars of his loss were still with him now, however, twenty years on.

But Blu was much more sensitive, more soft-hearted than Eduardo. How would he cope with losing the macaw he loved so dearly? If the hard-as-rocks Eduardo became depressed, what would happen to Blu? Bruno had heard stories of macaws committing suicide when their mates died, unable to cope. Bruno felt a sickening feeling. He could picture tribe members asking where Blu had gone, after Jewel was pronounced dead. He could imagine a body being found in the river, and he felt sickened by that thought.

_No. I won't let that happen. Carla, Bia and Tiago can't become orphans. _He looked down his best friend, whom he loved. _You deserve so much better._ _There has to be something we can do… _Something then dawned upon him - there was one thing Carla had mentioned to him, when she had been reciting Bia's words. _It may sound dubious… but if there's nothing else that can save Jewel, what other choice do we have? _

"Get up, Carla." Bruno said. Carla looked up, confusion crossing her expression.

"What?" she asked, sniffing heavily and wiping her wing across her eyes.

"Carla - tell me." Bruno took Carla's wings in his own. He was determined. He wasn't letting Carla's heart be broken - she didn't deserve that, and neither did the rest of her family. This was the final option - the only option left. It sounded crazy, but it was the last and only resort. "You mentioned a myth."

"Yes… that's what Bia told me… Roberto and Sophia were telling grandpa and Mimi…" Carla's voiced faded, and she frowned. "What are you getting at, Bruno?" they looked at each other. Carla blinked, staring up at him; then Bruno saw something light within her emerald eyes. "Bruno? Do you… believe in myths?"

"Some of them." He answered. Bruno looked at Carla for a long time, before speaking again. "Where's your sister, Carla?"

_Later_

Bia stared at the ground, tears making her vision blurry. Tiago sat a foot from her, the same way. It was the middle of the night, and they were still in Roberto and Sophia's tree - where the tree's owners were right now was a mystery. Maybe they had left the ravine, to get to grips with the reality of Jewel's diagnosis.

Azure, Isaac, Bromeliad and Orchid were sitting around them, looking just as depressed as they were. They had been sitting here in silence for an hour, trying to find the courage to speak to each other, to offer words of comfort, but couldn't find any. _My kids'll grow up with one less grandmother, _Bia thought, and this only added to her distraught.

Did Blu know about Jewel's diagnosis yet? Had Roberto, Sophia, Eduardo and Mimi found the courage to tell him? Bia didn't want to know how Blu would react - she didn't want to find out. Bia wondered where Carla was - she needed her sister now, more than ever, but she wasn't here. The moment Bia had broken the news to Carla and Tiago, Carla had bursted into tears, before fleeing the tree, clearly going to find Bruno, seek comfort from him. Just as Bia was thinking this over, Carla's voice sounded from behind them.

"Mom's not going to die." Carla said. All of the six looked up, to see Carla and Bruno standing in the nest entrance. Carla's face was still tear-stained, but unlike her younger brother and sister, there was a look of determination and hope on her face. Bia and Tiago looked at each other, confused - Bia had heard what Roberto and Sophia said. Jewel had a few weeks at the most to live.

"What?" sniffed Tiago, rubbing his eyes. Carla and Bruno entered the hollow, before sitting down.

"Bruno's got an idea." Carla announced, her wings crossed. Everyone exchanged glances, and shifted closer, so that they could hear more clearly. She turned to Bruno, nodding. "Go on." she urged. Bruno nodded at her, before turning to Bia.

"Bia - when you were eavesdropping on Roberto, Sophia, Eduardo, and Mimi - you mentioned a myth."

"Yes." Bia murmured. "The Red tribe's matriarch told Roberto and Sophia about it…" Bia could tell what Bruno was getting at - but it was silly. How could he think that it was real? "But it's a myth, Bruno. They're just stories…"

"Not necessarily." Bruno insisted. "Some are real. Go on, Bia - tell us. What was the myth about?" Bia looked at the others, expecting to see disbelief of a 'myth'; but, to her surprise, there was a glimmer of interest. _You seriously think that a myth has the potential of being real? _She thought. Azure wrapped a wing around her shoulders.

"Go on, Beatriz." He said her full name in a gentle, encouraging voice. Bia's actual name was 'Beatriz'; her parents had argued over 'Beatriz' and 'Bianca', when she was born, but then they realized that the first three letters of 'Bianca' could also be a nickname of 'Beatriz.' It was a wonderful alternative. Bia looked up, into Azure's eyes. His blue eyes, with their amber dash in one, were comforting to Bia. Just one look into those eyes made the pain she was feeling dull down a bit. It wouldn't hurt to tell them the myth, would it?

"Fine." Bia sighed. "It could take a few minutes to explain, though." Bia looked at Azure again, and he nodded. "Okay." She murmured. "The myth is known as 'The Estrella.' As we all know, 'Estrella' means 'star' in Spanish -"

"Does it?" Tiago interrupted. Bia rolled her hazel eyes.

"Pay attention in Mimi's Spanish lessons, little brother. As I was saying, this myth is called 'The Estrella', because it starts with a shooting star." This beginning sentence had been enough to seize everyone's attention. "Just over a thousand years ago, a comet burned up in the atmosphere - but it was no normal shooting star. It was special." Bia paused, looking at her friends, wondering that they didn't believe it - but they were clinging onto every detail. Bia's voice grew more confident as she went on. _I suppose the tale's not entirely ludicrous._ "Just over South America, a tiny fragment of this comet got through the atmosphere, and landed somewhere in Peru. Peru, I know - but hear it out. This part of the comet, made of ice and some kind of special stone, landed, and from it, there supposedly grew a few special plants. It was either a fruit or a flower, I can't remember. As it was born from a shooting star, it was named the 'Estrella -' and yes, Tiago, it means 'star' in Spanish. But this is no ordinary plant. When it's ingested by the patient, it can heal anything." At this, her friends began whispering. "Literally any injury, any illness. The Estrella is said to only make itself visible to those who need it most. But macaws have searched for it several times, out of curiosity - and they never found it." Silence spread over everyone - it was a long while until anyone spoke again.

"It could exist." Murmured Orchid, in a hushed voice. "It doesn't sound ridiculously false…" she shook her head, as if shaking off her doubt of the Estrella's existence. "'Visible to those who need it most?' Maybe those who tried to find it didn't have a fatally ill or injured companion."

"Fair point - Bia did say it was 'out of curiosity'…" Bromeliad was nodding, but she still looked reluctant to believe the tale. "But… Peru? That must be miles away!"

"Peru… it's not as far as it sounds." Isaac commented. "It's not as far as you'd think."

"How would you know?" asked Azure, in mild surprise. Isaac looked at his younger brother, shrugging.

"Do you remember when all eight of us went onto that boat, a couple of weeks back? We spoke to Rafael, Pedro and Nico on the foam, or whatever that thing's called…"

"Phone." Carla corrected Isaac.

"Yes." Isaac nodded. "There was a map on the wall, of South America. I gave it a quick scan, found Rio and where we are now - then I looked at the countries around the Amazon, compared the distances. Surprisingly, Peru is almost equal to the same length as here to Rio, maybe even a bit less, depending on how deep you go into Peru." When they stared at him, Isaac shrugged. "I'm very observant, you see."

"It's shorter than the distance between here and Rio, and that journey takes a couple of weeks at the most… you, Isaac, are brilliant." Said Azure. He rose his wing, and Isaac clapped his wing to his in a high-wing.

"Okay, I think that the best plan is to leave early tomorrow, without anyone knowing." Carla suggested. "We can't tell anyone. There's no way they'll let us leave - they would think it was pointless. Bia said that Eduardo refused to believe it, so he'll refuse to let us go. It's best if they never know. We should gather supplies - we'll need to find a map, maybe a clock and a compass…"

"We should be able to find those things on a boat tour…" Bruno suggested. Most of them began suggesting ideas, except for Bia and Tiago.

"Whoa, whoa -" Tiago held up his wings. "Hold on... Are we being serious? We're going to _Peru,_ for this 'Estrella'… and it might not even exist?"

"Come on, Tiago!" Orchid said, in a persuasive voice. "It does make sense. This so-called myth… it sounds so real."

"Guys?" Carla said, softly. Her eyes were welling up with tears again, as she looked at her friends and siblings. "There's nothing else that can cure mom. It's worth a try. What if we didn't decide to go… and it actually _does _exist? Then mom would have died, when there was a chance that she could live." Carla then stood up, blinking away her tears. "The Estrella could be mom's only chance of survival. It is her only chance of survival. I know, it could be a treacherous and pointless trip… but isn't it worth a try? Come on! Who's with me?" she exclaimed. Bruno immediately stood up. Bromeliad, Isaac, and Orchid soon followed. Azure was nodding to himself, before he rose; Tiago looked at them, reluctance in his brown eyes, before he sighed, standing up.

"So, we're doing the standing-up-in-agreement thing? Okay." He shrugged. "Peru, here we come." The seven looked at Bia, who was still sitting. Azure held out his wing to her, and she hesitated briefly.

"It's worth a try, Bia." Azure reasoned. Bia looked from his face to his outstretched wing - was it worth it? Bia looked at all her friends, wondering if it could be true. Myths were stories - not real… But then she remembered her sister's words. _Mom's only chance of survival. _Bia looked at Azure again, before reaching up, taking his wing, before she stood. Orchid, for the first time in a few hours, managed a smile.

"Ladies and gentleman." Orchid said. "We are going to Peru."


	16. Collecting supplies

"Alright, get what you need and hurry up, all of you." Carla muttered. Carla and Bia were perched, side-by-side, on a piece of metal that was peeling off the outside of the boat. Perched in the safety ring on their right, there was Azure and Isaac, while Bromeliad, Tiago, Orchid and Bruno were holding onto multiple ropes that were strung along the boat's side. While the three siblings looked at ease, their five companions looked less settled. They had been on a boat once, but not any other time; they were nervous around anything human as it was, since the negative message of humans had been drummed into their brains since they were young.

Most chicks in the wild were taught scary stories about humans, to keep them away from danger. Bruno, being the oldest of them all here - a few days or weeks older than Carla, Bia and Tiago - had been taught the most brutal stories. Since the kids and their parents had arrived in the Amazon, bringing change to the tribes and their ways, the new generation of chicks had been informed that not_ all_ humans were bad news, but they were advised to keep away from them just in case. Tobias and Isabella had told Bruno some pretty vile tales to keep him away from humans, but it turned out that these stories weren't all true; not every human who came to the rainforest wanted to 'slice off their wings'. It wasn't a nice story to be told, but many humans in the rainforest were bad news. It was a good way of staying safe.

The only really good humans were the indigenous Amazonians, or the employees at the Spix's Wing, a small building set up by Linda and Tulio in an abandoned, deforested area. It was the sanctuary headquarters, and a small hospital for injured animals that its employees encountered in the rainforest. Bia had gone once, with Azure and Orchid, when all three of them had been injured in the fire, months ago. It was on the edge of the sanctuary, which stretched for quite a few miles, also protecting Felipe, Johanna and Kerja's tribes from the touch of poachers and illegal loggers.

"Carla, it'll be fine. They're just tourists - the only thing they'll do is take photos of you." Tiago pointed out. "Go on - distract them while we have a look around the boat for supplies."

"Fine." Carla huffed, before flying up the boat side, and perching on one of the wooden bars that kept tourists from falling off the boat. The remaining seven looked at each other, before flying up the side, quite a few metres away. Carla, meanwhile, let out a squawk to get the attention of the tourists. Carla began to dance a bit, sweeping across the surface of the bar, her wings moving up and down as she danced. There was the pounding of sandals on the deck as tourists rushed over, their attention caught by the exotic bird, and there was the clicking of cameras. Meanwhile, a voice began speaking from a speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to ask you all to stay at least two metres away from her - macaws can be bite-y little birds. According to our wildlife guide, we are passing by the Spix's macaw sanctuary, and this is one of the rare birds right now… once thought extinct in the wild for years, this species has proved us wrong and the known population was thought to be five until July 2014. Since their rediscovery, the population is now known to be a roughly a hundred and something or more…" while the tourists were dazzled by Carla's dancing, Bruno perched up on a rope, making sure that none of the tourists' kids tried to grab Carla. Tiago, Bromeliad and Orchid went in search of a compass, while Bia, Isaac and Azure began looking for a map of the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon stretched into Peru, Columbia and almost half a dozen other countries, as well as Brazil - they would probably be able to find a decent route.

While they searched for their equipment, it occurred to Bia that they'd need something carry all these things in, as well as the Estrella, if they ever found it. Blu's fanny pack was falling apart, and was therefore out of the question. She'd opened it at home, to see if it was worth taking any of the contents on the trip - but most of it was either unnecessary or half-broken. She'd even looked at the GPS, but the batteries had been long dead. Even if it still worked, bringing the GPS was a bad idea. Bia had lost count of how many times the stupid thing had gotten them lost, on her family's first trip to the Amazon - their arrival had been delayed by over a week because of it. Making a mental note of finding something to carry their supplies, Bia focused on finding a map.

Meanwhile, Bromeliad, Tiago and Orchid were squinting through the glass of the control room, where the boat captain was controlling the boat's progress. The control room was the best place to find a compass.

"Hey, is that a compass?" Bromeliad asked, pointing at something on the counter, just through the glass before them. It was - a small, silver, circular one, probably two inches wide, attached to a chain. There was a slowly moving red arrow, moving from _N, E, S, W _and the directions in-betweenas the boat travelled.

"Bingo." Said Tiago. "But the question is… how do we get it without being spotted?" they were stuck for ideas. But Bromeliad and Tiago were in for a shock, as Orchid suddenly dropped from no-where, landing on the counter through the glass. They gaped at her, wondering how she got in - but Orchid raised a talon to her beak, before she pointed upwards. Bromeliad and Tiago looked up, and Tiago knocked his talons against his head.

"Of course. A window." He sighed. Tiago then focused on Orchid, his heart drumming in his chest. She was watching the captain, nervous, her feathers spiking up; all the captain had to do was look ever so slightly to the right and see a macaw on the counter. Orchid was a few inches away from the silver compass, but every move brought her closer into the captain's view. Slowly, she reached forward, claws outstretched, before her toes slowly wrapped around the compass.

"Watch the chain!" Bromeliad whispered, as the chain made a still clinking sound. Orchid glared at her sister.

"I _know."_ She whispered back; but as Orchid turned around, spread her wings to fly for the window, she forgot about the chain. Orchid let out a squawk of alarm as she was sent flying, the chain wrapping around her ankles. As she fell, a few books, a stapler, and a half-filled mug of tea went with her, clattering onto the wooden floor with a loud _clunk. _Bromeliad covered her eyes, moaning softly.

"Sis." She groaned. Indubitably, the loud sound of crashing books and breaking porcelain had alerted the captain.

"_Quê__?"_ the human spun round, before he spotted the macaw_. "__Dios mío!" _he exclaimed, leaping to his feet and rushing at Orchid, shouting in Spanish. He seized a newspaper, swiping it at her - Orchid squawked in fear, before going on a flying frenzy, shooting around the control room while the newspaper flew at her. Tiago and Bromeliad were bewildered with shock, and trying not to laugh as the human chased the little bird. Since hearing Jewel's diagnosis, watching this humorous scene was up-lifting.

"Do something!" she shouted, through the glass. Orchid was shooting them angry looks, as she ducked the human's newspaper.

"What do we do?" Bromeliad shouted back, still holding back laughter. Orchid's blue eyes were darting around the control room as she avoided the newspaper's swipes, the captain's hand reaching for the silver compass in her claws. She finally perched on a high shelf, while the human looked for something long enough to swipe her with. She was pointing at a large, obvious escape route.

"Door!" Tiago exclaimed, realizing, before rushing at the handle. "Help me, Li!" he looked over his shoulder as he landed on the door handle. Most door handles weren't a problem to open, but this one was quite heavy-duty, and he struggled to open it by himself. Bromeliad quickly flew over to help him, yanking at the handle. The moment the door clicked open, Orchid came out of the room like a shooting star, the compass's chain still entangled in her talons. Bromeliad and Tiago made their getaway before the human spotted them, flying up after Orchid. The captain was shaking his fist, swearing in Spanish, before he grumbled, turning away and slamming the door shut.

"Oh, ha, very _amusing."_ Said Orchid, sarcastically, rolling her eyes, as Bromeliad and Tiago started laughing. "You two are so annoying, sometimes."

"Come on, Orchid." Tiago teased. "You should've seen yourself." Orchid still didn't look amused, glaring at him. Seeing that he may have offended her, Tiago quickly decided to apologise. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"Okay, okay." Bromeliad rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go find Bruno. Maybe Isaac, Bia and Azure have come back before we have, and we can leave as soon as possible. If in doubt, we can watch the show." Remembering that Carla was entertaining the tourists, keeping them distracted, Tiago and Orchid followed Bromeliad to the other side of the boat, landing on the rope beside Bruno.

"How's it going?" Tiago asked, as they landed. He casted a side-look at Orchid, and she still looked annoyed. Orchid was a bit highly-strung and sensitive, and she hated being embarrassed. He couldn't play tricks on her, because she'd be furious. He'd played a prank on her a few weeks ago, and Orchid had found it hard to forgive him. He didn't want to strain their relationship.

"Carla's doing great." Bruno replied, pointing. Five minutes on, and the tourists were still crowded around Carla, snapping photos. Carla actually looked as though she was enjoying the attention, and she looked relaxed and carefree.

"Where's Bia, Azure and Isaac?" Bromeliad asked, while they watched Carla.

"No idea." Bruno shrugged. "A good map's proving hard to find." Bruno was correct - Bia, Azure, and Isaac were having a difficult time finding a decent map.

"Why are things so difficult?" Azure complained, as they shifted through some boxes. They'd searched the boat up and down, with no map of decent size or detail. Most of the maps they found were just of the Brazilian Amazon - they needed one that showed the Peruvian Amazon. The map Isaac had observed a few weeks ago was far too large, so they needed one that wouldn't be a pain to open and fold.

"It's always the way, bro." Isaac replied, tossing a book about Amazonian fish aside. Bia let out a squeak as it hit her on the back, sending her flying forwards. "Sorry, Bia!" Isaac exclaimed, in an apologetic voice, before extending a wing to help her to her feet.

"Don't be sorry, Isaac!" Bia then said, looking at the book she'd landed on. "I think I've found what we're looking for." Azure and Isaac looked at each other, before looking over Bia's shoulders to see what she'd found. Bia picked up the book - it was an atlas, a little battered and it's spine showing wear. Bia opened it, scanning the contents page for South America - finally, she found it, and flipped to the pages. "I sure hope this has one of the entire Amazon." She muttered - it was that, or she'd have to figure out the computer's password, and find something on the internet. Thankfully, there was indeed what they wanted - a very in-depth map of the entire Amazon, spanning into countries outside Brazil. There was then an entire map of Peru - perfect. "Sorry, atlas owner." Bia mused, as she ripped the pages from the book.

"Awesome." Said Azure, holding up the pages. "Whoa, this is so cool - the Amazon is so big!" Azure showed it to Isaac, whose eyes widened with awe. While they examined the map, Bia remembered that they'd need something to carry their supplies in - luckily for her, there was a sack a few feet away. With her claws, Bia tore off a suitable-sized piece of the sack - the entire one was far too big. She'd be able to fix it up, no problem - a vine to tie it closed. Satisfied that they had everything they needed, Bia turned around. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," Azure said, tearing his gaze away from the map. "Let's get out of here." The trio flew out of the room, with Bia holding the sack, and Azure holding the atlas pages. Isaac let out an alerting squawk, and Bruno, Tiago, Orchid and Bromeliad spotted them emerging from the deck.

"We're outta here." Tiago said, fluffing out his feathers. "Carla! We're going!" he squawked, as the perched four lifted into flight.

"Coming!" Carla replied. She turned to her audience, did a bow - before she whirled around, and flew away. Before she vanishing into the jungle, Carla performed a somersault, much to the tourists' awe. The horizon was beginning to darken, and the sky was turning pinkish-orange.

It was nearing sunset - they'd been out of the ravine all day, wanting to avoid being told that Jewel was dying. They'd been hiding out in Carla and Bruno's club, which was closed until further notice. Carla and Bruno had etched an apology onto the piece of stone they used to block the entrance, when it was shut. The message read: _Dear our loyal partiers: we're sorry to announce that we will be closed until further notice. The club will be closed for a few weeks to a month or more, due to a private matter. We ask you to wish us luck, and we promise to make it up to you when we reopen by giving you some fresh, new music that will give your soul a pair of wings. See you soon. Love, Carla and Bruno. X_

Had Blu been told about Jewel's fate? They didn't know, but it couldn't have been today - they'd passed some tribe mates earlier, but they hadn't said a word or casted them a second glance. If Blu had been informed, they'd tell them. Maybe he'd be told later on, but they didn't want to be there to see his reaction. They'd leave after nightfall, when everyone was asleep.

When they reached the closed club, the eight entered through a secret entrance, to spare them the exhaustion of pushing the rock out of the way. While the others began discussing the plan, Bia sat down at the side, fiddling with the piece of sack and a vine. But she seemed distracted, her eyes not on her progress. Azure looked over his shoulder, seeing her looking distant, before he got up and sat next to her, looping a wing around her.

"Hey." He said, in a soft voice. "You okay?" Bia looked up at him, before she sighed, dropping the vine. She put her wings over her face.

"Worried." Bia admitted. "I… what if this is all for nothing? Shouldn't we be cherishing the time we have left with her, rather than going on this… this wild goose chase? Peru's huge, Az - dangerous, wild. And we're looking for this one small thing. How will we find it in a country like Peru?" Azure looked at the girl he loved so dearly. To his surprise, he thought of a reply easily.

"It won't be all for nothing." He murmured. "Bia… I don't want you to lose your mom. If I lost mine… I don't know what I'd do. I don't want you to feel this sort of pain. Sure, Peru's massive - but we'll find it somehow, you'll see. I promise you, Bia, that we'll save Jewel, one way or another. There's always a cure." Azure looked into her hazel eyes, before he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Just don't give up hope, Beatriz."


	17. Saying goodbye

Bruno felt a pang of reluctance as he watched the sleeping form of Tobias and Isabella, who had no idea that their son was about to vanish. "Bye, mom, dad." He whispered, staring at them for the last time for a few weeks. He'd miss them terribly, and he knew that they'd be furious with him, for leaving without their permission - but this was important. Now that he had nothing to do but wait, Bruno perched in their meeting spot, a ledge in the clay licks. He watched the two trees - Roberto and Sophia's, Blu and Jewel's, where his friends were looking at their parents for the last time. While there was no sign of Bia, Carla and Tiago, he could see four blue forms flitting about Roberto and Sophia's tree. In the quietness of the ravine, and from his close position, he could hear their voices clearly.

"I'm telling you, Isaac - they're not here."

"Come on, Orchid - where else could they be? Keep searching."

"She's right, bro - mom and dad aren't in. Bromeliad, any sign?"

"No, Azure. I don't understand it - where are they?" Bruno frowned, hearing the four siblings' conversations. Roberto and Sophia weren't there? It was night; they had to be asleep, in their home. Bruno tried to think of where else they could be. They couldn't be outside the ravine at this time of night. A new thought then occurred to him. _Unless..._ Bruno looked toward the second largest tree in the ravine, before taking flight, silently making his way toward his patriarch's home. Sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed as he reached it, hearing Roberto and Sophia's voices. Bruno, concealed by vines, peeked through a gap.

Roberto and Sophia's backs were to him, facing someone in the shadows. It had to be Eduardo, because a shaft of moonlight casted over the top of his military-style head feathers. Through the dark, Bruno couldn't see his face. Sitting to the side was Mimi, her blue eyes blank of emotion. She looked drained, grey circles prominent beneath her eyes. Bruno had never seen Mimi look that way - it was, quite literally, beyond belief. Of course, who could blame her? She was about to lose her beloved niece for a second time, and this time, it was permanent.

"We understand your reluctance, Eduardo, and we're sorry. But he has to know sooner or later. We can tell Bia, Carla and Tiago tomorrow - Blu has the right to know first." Roberto said, quietly.

"I… I know, it's hard… but it's unfair of us to keep lying to him, that Jewel'll get better, when she won't." Sophia's voice kept breaking off, and she kept drawing her wing across her face, probably to wipe away tears. "Maite and Miguel visited us today - they've asked Johanna to come over and take care of her, in the time she has. Do you want us to tell him for you? Or do you want to?" There was a long, tense moment of silence - before Bruno heard the dragging of feet across the floor, and the form of Eduardo moved, probably to stand up. Bruno knew exactly what Roberto and Sophia had been telling Eduardo - it was cruel to keep lying to Blu. The truth had to come out. _They're going to tell Blu - we have to go, now. _If they found Carla, Bia and Tiago in the tree too, they'd probably tell them while they were there.

Bruno turned, and flew back in direction of the way he came. "Guys!" he called, as he reached Roberto and Sophia's tree, as swiftly as he could. When he reached the tree, Bruno found the four looking around the nest - poking their heads into every room, scanning each branch, for any sign of their parents. "We're out of time. Time to go."

"What?" Isaac began to protest. "We haven't seen mom and dad yet -"

"They're on their way to tell Blu." Bruno interrupted, silencing him. "We've got to leave, now."

"Oh, _shoot."_ Azure looked dismayed - he had wanted to have one last look at his mother and father before their departure. He looked around, hesitating, before sighing. "Okay, let's go, quickly, before they tell Blu. We're out of here."

"Where you going?" said a new voice, making them all jump. A young girl was standing in the entrance, her long, wavy head feathers white in the light of the moon. The owners of the feathers were unmistakable - Elsa was the only one with head feathers longer than Roberto, Azure, and Isaac's. It was extraordinary - Manuela's were very short, more like a mere stub than anything else, and Carlos's feathers weren't exactly that long. Juan and Augustus were similar, but Elsa's feathers almost went half-way down her back. _For goodness sake, you nosy kid! _Bromeliad couldn't help thinking. Elsa couldn't keep to her own business; it would surely get her into trouble some day.

"Elsa!" Orchid hissed, her wing over her heart, for the sight of Elsa had frightened her. "Go home, for goodness sake." She demanded. Elsa's ice-blue eyes flashed, indignantly.

"Why?" she challenged.

"We haven't got time, Elsa." Bruno insisted, looking at the others. "Go back before I tell Carlos and Manuela."

"Oh, _please._ Why does everyone cut me out of things?" Elsa complained, crossing her wings. "Everything's so _secretive! _Honestly, I _don't _cause trouble wherever I go - I'm not a flying disaster. I know where you're going, I've been watching you, all day." The five became silent, as they stared at the chick. Elsa had been spying on them?

"You're lying…" Bromeliad tried to say.

"No, I'm _not."_ Elsa protested; and they all knew that she was telling the truth. "You went on that boat, for a 'compass' and a 'map', whatever those are. You've been hiding in the club all day, talking about how you're going to - Peru? Was it?"

"Don't ever eavesdrop on us, Elsa." Isaac snapped. "Elsa, we don't have time for this. Jewel's life depends on it."

"Go home and don't tell anyone. I'm assuming you know what's up with Jewel, because you can't keep your beak out of anyone's business." Orchid looked at Elsa, with hard eyes. _Manners, little sister, _Azure thought. Orchid needed to watch what she said sometimes.

"Look, we've got to _go." _Bromeliad urged, looking outside. There were four forms standing outside Eduardo's nest - they were on their way to tell Blu. "Elsa, just go home, _please._ We'll bring you back a Peruvian souvenir, if it'll make you go away."

"Don't be stupid." Elsa snorted. "I'm not that childish. Fine, I'll _go. _But keep in mind that your parents have no idea where you're going. To their knowledge, you have no idea about Jewel - they'll think something's happened to you. I'll tell them for you, if you like." Muttering, Elsa turned, before she vanished.

"Finally, that's sorted." Azure shook his plumage. "Come on, let's grab Bia, Carla, and Tiago and get out of here." But as Bromeliad followed her siblings and Bruno, it dawned upon her that Elsa had a point. Roberto and Sophia didn't know that they knew about Jewel, or the Estrella. If they vanished, they could assume that something had happened - the Hyacinths made the idea of that worse. If Elsa really did tell Roberto and Sophia, would they believe her? Elsa was only a few months old - the same age Bia, Carla and Tiago had been, when they first came to the Amazon. She was young, immature - what were the chances they'd believe Elsa's story? An idea entered Bromeliad's head.

Meanwhile, Bia, Carla, and Tiago were sitting there, staring through the climbing plant. Jewel was lying there, immobile other than her laboured breathing. Blu was staring at her, with fearful eyes, whispering to himself. Praying that she recover. He was praying to Tia - he didn't know much about his deceased mother-in-law, but she had been a good macaw. Surely, she'd be watching over Jewel, keeping her safe. While Blu prayed, the trio heard a squawk from outside - the signal. They were leaving now? They all looked at each other, stricken.

Tiago stared through the leaves for one final time, for many moments, as he stared at Jewel. Then he screwed his eyes closed, and turned, flying outside. Carla was holding back tears, cherishing what could be her final glance of Jewel alive, before she pressed her wing to her beak, closed her eyes, and extended her wing, blowing a kiss at her parents. "Bye." She whispered, before turning, and leaving the hollow, leaving Bia alone. Bia's heart almost broke as she looked at Jewel. Her final moments of seeing her mom - alive. Would they make it home in time? And, if they did, with a cure? Bia looked at Blu. Maybe this was the final time she'd see him sane. Losing Jewel would destroy him.

"I love you both, to the moon and back." Bia whispered. "Hang on. We'll see you in a few weeks." Before leaving, Bia ran up to her room, grabbing their bag of supplies; she'd added her drawing pad, a few pencils - she'd drawn accurate sketches of her family and friends, with the detail, tone, shading and everything, all in pencils. They could all look through it on the journey; see their family members, their friends back home. Bia seized a charcoal pencil, and then she tore off a small piece of paper, from the unmarked pages of one of her books. Scribbling a word onto it, Bia left it in her sleeping niche, where it would surely be found. Bia then whirled round, and ran out of her room. Before leaving, she had one final look into the room. Ripping her gaze away from Blu and Jewel, Bia followed her brother and sister up to the ledge, their agreed meeting place. While Bia left the tree, four forms arrived at it, a few seconds after she left. They hesitated briefly, before going inside.

"Blu." Said Mimi, in a soft voice. Blu looked up, drowsy. Jewel, still unconscious, didn't respond to her aunt's voice.

"What is it?" he said, looking at them all. They all looked terrified of something; Eduardo and Mimi looked years older than they were, Sophia was trying not to weep, and Roberto was looking away, crest feathers cloaked over his eyes, hiding his face from view. Something was clearly wrong. "Guys." Blu said, standing up. "What's going on?" he asked, warily. Roberto walked up to his friend, putting a wing around him, and leading him outside, away from his sick mate.

"You might want to sit down."Roberto suggested, in a mournful voice that shocked Blu. "It's about Ju-Ju."

Meanwhile, Bia was the last one to arrive, the small bag in her talons. Her friends greeted her in a friendly manner, but they all looked nervous. It was the commencing of a long, hazardous journey - Bia couldn't blame the nerves dancing in their eyes. "Okay," she said. "I've plotted where we need to go - west." She pulled out the atlas pages and the compass from the bag, showing them all their current location. She'd gone onto the computers at the Spix's Wing, when the employees hadn't been there - she'd discovered the ravine's location, and drawn it onto their map. She placed her talon on the small 'X' she had drawn. "From here, we fly -"

"Wait," Bromeliad interrupted. She looked at them all, with nervous, ocean-blue eyes. "Can I just say something, before you all go?"

"Of course." Bia nodded, but then she was confused. "What do you mean, _you? _Don't you mean _we?" _Bia, along with everyone else, turned to look at Bromeliad. "You…" Bia frowned. "You're not coming?"

"No way!" Orchid protested, staring at her older sister. "You have to come, Li! I mean - why not?" Bromeliad put out a wing, touching her on the shoulder.

"Orchid, Elsa had a point." She pointed out.

"Elsa?" Tiago repeated, and the others, beside himself and his two sisters, nodded.

"She's been spying on us." Bruno admitted. "She knows everything." The trio stared at the other five, bewildered.

"Why, that sneaky, meddlesome chick." Carla muttered. Bruno rolled his eyes, clearly still annoyed with how Carla thought of Augustus and his relatives. _Deal with it - you should learn to forgive. Elsa's annoying, true, but she's not a villain. Stop acting like that family is bad news. Just because Gus once made a mistake doesn't mean he's automatically cursed._

"She said that no-one will know where we've gone - to their knowledge, we don't know anything about the Estrella. They had no idea Bia eavesdropped on them." Bromeliad explained. "They'll think something's happened to us all. She offered to tell them, but… who would believe her? She's only a kid, after all."

"I see what you're getting at." Azure said, turning to Bromeliad. "Someone has to stay behind to tell them the truth, where we're going." Silence. "So… it's gonna be you?"

"Yeah." Bromeliad nodded. "I'm not scared, don't think that - I mean, I want to go, I want to help. But someone has to let them know."

"But you can't stay by yourself!" Orchid argued. "You'll be so lonely… I mean, there are Gus, Andrea and Kai, a few of our friends from Felipe and Johanna's tribes, but - it won't be the same without us. Maybe one of us should stay behind, as well." Initially, nobody volunteered. They all wanted to go on the trip - they all wanted to help Jewel. But then Isaac rose to his feet.

"It should be me." He said. Before anyone could protest, Isaac went on. "Come on - I'll miss Bromeliad. And your trip'll be faster, with two less macaws to slow you all down. Trust me - go to Peru without us." There was a long silence. The remaining six looked at one another.

"Are you positive you don't mind?" Bia asked, looking at Isaac and Bromeliad.

"Of course we don't." Isaac assured her. "We'll be fine here - we'll make sure that they'll be okay while you're gone." But as Isaac said these reassuring things, there was a piercing, anguished shriek - a shriek of agony. Not one of physical pain - but it was from the heart. A shriek even the sharpest jaguar tooth couldn't cause. Voices erupted from trees as tribe members were jolted awake from their slumber, and blue heads poked out of hollows. All eyes were on Blu and Jewel's tree, where Eduardo, Mimi, Roberto and Sophia had gone into minutes before. The shriek had been male. The eight were quiet, and Bia, Carla, and Tiago were especially silent. For a moment, no-one moved. Then Bromeliad and Isaac turned to them.

"You should go." Isaac said, slowly. The six macaws looked at one another, before each of them quickly hugged Isaac and Bromeliad, whom they were leaving behind. Azure and Orchid took several moments longer than the other three to leave their sibling embrace. They had never spent so much time apart from each other - now, the four would be temporarily split in half.

"You look after yourselves." Azure said, looking at his older brother and sister. "And… watch out for Hyacinths. I have a bad feeling that something's going to happen - I wouldn't trust Kerja at all." Everyone shifted, nervous at the mention of the Hyacinth's matriarch and sole leader. Most leaders had a mate, but Kerja didn't. It was rumoured she had a son, or a daughter, but it was never truly confirmed.

"We'll be careful." Isaac nodded. "Look after Orchid." Hearing this, Orchid glared at Isaac.

"Hey, I'm not a baby!" protested Orchid, crossly.

"We know." Bromeliad replied. "But you're still the youngest of all of us. You'll always be our little sister." Orchid grumbled in embarrassment, squirming as Bromeliad gave her a hug. Bia was last to say goodbye to the two. She hugged Isaac, first, then Bromeliad.

"Thank you." Bia said, looking at them both. "Look after Blu and Jewel, okay? Make sure that mom holds on."

"We will, my friend." Bromeliad promised. She pulled out of the embrace, and put her wings on Bia's shoulders. "Go. Bring back the cure, and save them both. We know you can do it." Bia, encouraged by Bromeliad's words, nodded, giving her a half-smile.

"Good luck, all of you - and be careful." Isaac advised, looking a little anxious. Bia, Azure, Orchid, Tiago, Carla and Bruno looked at them one final time, still reluctant to leave them - before they turned, and flew out of the ravine. Bromeliad and Isaac were left, alone, on the ledge, listening to Blu's tortured cries.


	18. Vanished

Mimi once looked at the world with rose-tinted spectacles. But now, she didn't know if she could look at it in such a way ever again. The world outside was dark and miserable, the rain beating down, the sky a murky, depressing shade of grey. It was as if the sky was crying, as if mourning the news of what would soon be Jewel's death. The wind was blowing violently; tugging at Mimi's feathers even from inside her heavily flowered home. Petals were drifting about, and she had been watching them for hours, watching them move across the floor.

When Blu had reacted horribly to the news last night, the entire tribe had been alerted that something was wrong. So, a few hours earlier, Eduardo had reluctantly called them together and announced that Jewel only had a few weeks to live. Many macaws had begun crying, some had been too shocked to react, while others had come up to offer their sympathies. Mimi then remembered that Rafael, Eva, Nico, Pedro and the other friends from Rio would have to be told over the phone. _One of the kids will have to do that, no one else can use it… oh, it's too horrible. _They'd tell the city birds after the event actually happened. Emotions were running too high right now.

Flowers rested outside Blu and Jewel's tree - hundreds of them, for sympathy, but this made Mimi feel worse. Flower petals were used at burials, to cover a grave - the flowers did stand for condolences, for their petals just reminded Mimi of Tia's funeral, nineteen years ago. Mimi would have thought that she would be the first to die, of her family. She was the eldest, after all, a few weeks older than her brother - she did have years yet to live, but still, she would've probably died before anyone else did. Certainly not_ after_ her beloved niece. Mimi shivered when she remembered Blu's face, after they told him. It could have outweighed all the grief Mimi had felt for Tia, when they dragged Tia's corpse from the wreckage of the burning tree.

Blu had crumpled to the floor, shrieking - anyone would've thought it was a heart attack, but Mimi knew exactly what it was - she'd seen what grief had done to Eduardo on the night Tia died. He'd cried, pleaded them to tell him that it wasn't true. After his show of devastation, Blu had raced into the room Jewel was in, and had begun sobbing his heart out. Mimi honestly couldn't imagine what it was like, losing a mate. She had some idea of it, but she knew she would never truly understand. Mimi had never had a mate - she'd had a few boyfriends and flings when she was younger, but nothing special.

"Mimi!" a frantic voice cried, making her jump. Mimi's head whipped up as she recognised Roberto's silhouette, in the entrance of her tree. She felt a sickening feeling of dread. _No! We were told she had a few weeks!_ But, seeing Mimi's expression, Roberto realized that his frenzied entry had delivered an unintended message. "No, Jewel's still fine." Roberto said quickly, to her relief. He looked beside himself with worry - not over his childhood friend, however. He looked consumed with fear, his head feathers spiked violently - it was a 'parent' look, one Mimi had seen with Tia and Eduardo when Jewel was a child. "Have you seen my kids?" he demanded, confirming Mimi's suspicions. "Isaac and Bromeliad are asleep in their nests, but there's no sign of Orchid and Azure. Soph's going crazy, you know what she's like! Have you seen them?"

"Azure and Orchid?" Mimi asked, alarmed by his behaviour. "No, I haven't - wait." Mimi frowned. "Where's Bia, Carla, and Tiago?" Roberto opened his beak to reply, but then it snapped shut as he was lost for words. "I haven't seen any of them since…" Mimi began.

"…yesterday morning." Roberto finished. They both stared at one another, before Roberto knocked himself on the beak with a clenched talon. "How could I have been so blind? What kind of a father am I? I didn't notice my own_ kids_ were missing! Help me find Azure and Orchid - and Bia, Carla, and Tiago, too. Eduardo, bless his soul, went out the ravine to help look for them all, despite how he's feeling. Come on!" Roberto turned, and flew away, calling for his younger son and daughter. Concerned for the well-being of the kids, Mimi pushed aside her dark mood and flew out of the tree, into the drizzle. Wind battered at her feathers, sending a few moulting ones flying away. Most of the tribe were huddled in their nests, out of the rain. Over the wind, she heard Sophia calling.

"Azure! Orchid!" through the miserable weather, Mimi could see the periwinkle-blue form of their score marker. Sophia was darting from tree-to-tree, searching every hollow, asking everyone where they were. Nobody had seen them, however. Even more worrying was the fact that somebody else was missing, as well as Blu and Jewel's entire brood and half of Roberto and Sophia's.

"I went to the club, Tobias! There's a sign saying that they're closed for a few weeks - it didn't say why!" Isabella fretted, from where she was looking around her tree. "How didn't you notice he was missing, Toby? This is your _entire _fault!"

"It's not _just _my fault! He's your son too, Izzy!" Tobias was chasing his mate, trying to get her to calm down, but he still looked as fretful as she did - the difference was he could conceal his worry. Most mothers were visibly more worried than fathers, shown by Sophia and Isabella's frantic behaviour. At least Roberto and Tobias could keep calm - speaking of parents, where was Blu? Jewel's absence was acceptable, but, despite his grief, Blu should have been out, looking for his children. At least, that was her opinion. Mimi flew toward the tree, which looked droopy and sad, its leaves seeming to have lost their rich green hue.

"Blu!" Mimi called, entering. She knew not to call Jewel - she was probably in a blackout again. But Mimi was in for a shock, when she saw a figure propped against the entrance of the abandoned room. She had thought that she was too weak to stand. "Jewel!" she exclaimed, bewildered. "What are you doing? You need rest!" Jewel must have come out of her blackout - for the moment. But Jewel looked worse. She didn't seem to have changed a lot, but there was something even more worrying - her eyes were red. Not the whites of her eyes, from pain or anything… Mimi let out a small shriek as she realized. "Jewel! You're - you're - bleeding!"

"Wh…" Jewel blinked, touching her eye; her wingtip came away red. A stream of blood was coming from Jewel's left eye; bright red, carving a red stream through her face feathers. _You're bleeding… from your eyes! _Mimi thought, feeling sick. Horrified, Jewel began shaking as she slid down the wall, staring at the blood on her wing. Mimi rushed to Jewel, wrapping a wing around her and trying to help her to her feet. The flapping sound of wings distracted Mimi, and she turned, squinting up at a silhouette. She had an elegant look to her, with blue and yellow feathers - there was no doubt who it was.

"Don't worry, I'm here!" cried a familiar voice - if it were a fabric, it would be silk. The leader of the Blue-and-Gold macaw tribe rushed down, dropping a large leaf-woven bag, and she immediately helped Jewel up. Together, Mimi and Johanna hauled Jewel back through the climbing plant, putting her into the nest, despite her feeble protests.

"Let me…" Jewel was trying to speak; under the pain in her eyes, there was desperation. "My kids!" she insisted, attempting to push them away. "Let me help…"

"You're not going anywhere." Johanna said firmly, pushing Jewel back into the nest."I'm sorry, Jewel, but you're too sick to fly. You're in no state to look for the kids. They'll turn up - just sit down and let me give you some sort of pain reliever." Johanna whirled round, picking up the bag she had initially dropped. "You need to replace or re-educate your healers." She muttered, as she ran past Mimi. "They may be unable to treat the disease, but surely they'd remember to give her a pain killer!"

"We've got a healer in the making -" Mimi began, thinking of Bia, and her fascination in medicine. "-but right now, she, her siblings and friends are missing. Thank you, Johanna - I'll be back. I need to help in the search." Mimi turned, looking at Jewel. "We'll find them, wildflower. Just let Johanna give you some medicine."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child!" Jewel snapped, unexpectedly. Mimi recoiled in astonishment, shocked. Jewel was never so rude, especially not to her own aunt. Johanna, however, didn't look alarmed by the outburst.

"It's a side-effect of the disease." She explained, quietly, while she sorted out a bizarre-looking plant. "The disease targets the part of the brain that controls fear, anger, leading to emotional outbursts and mood snaps."

"That's comforting, Johanna." Mimi muttered, sarcastically, looking away. She couldn't stand to be in the same room as her dying niece, so she quietly slipped from the room and focused on finding the missing kids. Maybe it would put Jewel's mind at ease. "Bia! Carla! Tiago!" Mimi knew that the tree had probably already been searched, but she had a knack for spotting small clues. If she'd honed her skills further, she could've become a tracker. Tribes often, along with healing and Pit of Doom teams, had a group of trackers. Roberto was a tracker, and Isaac was said to have inherited his father's skill, too - Azure had artistic skills, but Isaac had the life skills. Mimi spotted a small, downy feather on the ground, and she picked it up, examining it. It was a juvenile feather, but dark enough to be Blu's - without question, it had to be Tiago's - and it was recent, too. Maybe a few hours old.

Mimi looked up, and could see the four sleeping hollows above, with Blu and Jewel's at the lowest level, and Bia's at the top. Mimi checked Blu and Jewel's room - which hadn't been slept in for days - but found no sign of the kids. Knowing that their rooms would show the most clues, Mimi began searching the three kids' rooms. She couldn't help but tut when she entered Tiago and Carla's. _What a mess - if I had kids, I'd make sure they wouldn't clutter up their rooms. _Mimi did notice similarities between all three bedrooms; all the necklaces were in their places. The kids usually wore them inside the ravine, to prevent the chance of losing them. Carla's iPod was tucked neatly into its gap, covered by a couple of leaves to conceal it. Carla always took the iPod with her - Mimi rarely saw her without it. Bia's room held the most evidence. A few things littered on the floor, but Bia always tidied up her room - Mimi had come here a few times, and it had always been immaculate. It was as if items had been knocked - Bia had clearly been in a hurry. Bia's sketchpad and a few of her drawing tools were gone from their usual place - and something odd, lying on the floor, caught on one of Mimi's claws.

Frowning, Mimi pulled the thing from her claw. It was probably an inch in width, light brown, made of some sort of material: long strings woven together. She'd seen it on one of those human boats, only then it had been a container for fruit. _This came from a sack. _What was a scrap of a sack doing in Bia's room? Why would she need it? Azure, Orchid, Bruno, and the three kids were missing… why weren't Isaac and Bromeliad with them? If Carla went out, a reason for leaving the iPod behind would be to prevent it being lost. None of them took their necklaces, also to prevent losing them… and the club had closed for a few weeks with no explanation, according to Isabella. The missing and changing things, almost as if they had gone somewhere…

Mimi then saw something white, lying in Bia's sleeping niche. Dropping the scrap of fabric in her talon, Mimi walked up to the niche, peering inside - before she took hold of the white thing. It looked as though it had been torn from one of Bia's books. It was written in rushed, yet neat writing, in one of Bia's charcoal pencils.

_We love you all - Isaac and Bromeliad will explain everything. Sorry._


	19. Explanation

Roberto marched into his hollow, with Isaac and Bromeliad hurrying ahead of him, so not to be hassled. In the tree, there were several macaws gathered: Sophia was standing with her wings on her hips, waiting for an explanation, and Eduardo was trying to hide his depressed mood with an angry look. They'd tell Isabella and Tobias what had happened to their son later, for they were out looking for him. Suddenly, someone else entered the hollow - Mimi, and - to their surprise - Blu. Mimi was practically dragging him, pulling him along behind her by his wing. Blu was barely acknowledging her, however, half stumbling, and his eyes unfocused. Roberto felt a flash of pain for his friend. _He's an echo of what he once was. Will he ever be the same again?_

"I'm sorry." Mimi said, in an exhausted voice. She had clearly been trying to convince Blu to come to Roberto's meeting, but had obviously given up after a while and decided to drag him herself. "But your entire brood is missing and you're not doing a _thing_ about it! Get a grip for five minutes to listen." Blu visibly ignored her, but he obeyed, shuffling across the floor to sit down, wings wrapped around himself. Satisfied that everyone was here, Roberto turned to his older children, and pushed them both a foot ahead, so that they could stand in front of the others.

"Um…" Isaac smiled weakly. "So. What's this about, then?"

"What do you think, Isaac?" Sophia demanded, and she ran up to the pair of them, brandishing the piece of paper Mimi had found in Bia's room. Both Bromeliad and Isaac flinched, clearly afraid of what Sophia would do. She had at all never struck them - she wouldn't dream of that - but she had a temper on her.

"Explanation." Roberto ordered, folding his wings._ "Now." _Bromeliad and Isaac looked at each other, sighing. Of course they'd expect the truth to come out.

"Fine." Bromeliad muttered. "They've gone to Peru. Happy?"

"Oh, that's _grand."_ Sophia said, rolling her eyes. "Very funny, you're going to have to come up with a better lie."

"It's no lie, mom!" Isaac protested. "Bia happened to overhear your conversation, the other night - we know what's happening to Jewel." Isaac's initial reply was silence. Sophia, Roberto, Eduardo and Mimi stared, stunned - at the mention of Jewel, Blu looked up.

"What?" he said, the first time he had spoken since last night. He stared at the four, his face a mixture of anger and hurt. "You waited a _whole day_ to tell me that Jewel was dying?" he spluttered, looking utterly betrayed. The four looked at each other, uncomfortable. "I was at her side all that time, thinking that she would get better once the cure was found, and then, twenty-four hours later, you decided to tell me?"

"Enough!" Bromeliad interrupted, before an argument could start. "The thing is, Blu, that they didn't go to Peru for a bit of sight-seeing. They went to find Jewel a _cure." _Both Bromeliad and Isaac felt relieved when they noticed a flash of surprise and, after several moments, a desperate glimmer of hope enter his eyes.

"You can't be serious!" Eduardo interrupted, barging forward. "It's a _myth._ It's an incredulous tale for chicks, no more. Bia's a smart girl - she should know better than to fill their heads with nonsense about a miracle plant! How could she be so naïve?"

"That's your granddaughter you're talking about!" Mimi reminded him, shoving him with a wing.

"Cut it out!" Roberto snapped, turning back to Isaac and Bromeliad. "Continue."

"Okay. Bia told us what's going to happen to Jewel. So, Bruno remembered that she mentioned the myth, so he thought that it was worth a try. He had Bia explain the myth." Isaac explained, hoping that they wouldn't be too mad.

"What myth actually was this?" Blu asked, in a quiet voice.

"'The Estrella.'" Bromeliad replied, before explaining; Blu didn't know about the myth. "Basically, a fragment of a comet landed in Peru, and from it, grew a few magical plants, called the 'Estrella', as that means 'Star' in Spanish. The Estrella apparently has the ability to heal any illness and injury. Okay, so, with it probably being the last resort, the others decided to go to Peru. They got a map and compass to take them there; the only reason me and Isaac stayed was because Elsa caught us leaving. She said she'd tell you all, but we didn't think you'd believe her, with her young age."

"Here's my question." Said Sophia. "Why on earth did they go… without telling us?"

"It's because of him." Isaac said, and all heads turned to Eduardo. The patriarch's eyes filled with surprise. "Bia heard how you thought of the myth - we thought that you'd forbid us from leaving. That's why we didn't tell anyone." There was several moments of long silence, as the adult birds were lost for words. Finally, Mimi found something to say.

"Six teenagers!" Mimi blurted, out of the blue. She looked terrified. "Teens, Isaac, Bromeliad! Do you have any idea of how dangerous it is out there? For goodness sake! Harpy eagles, jaguars! They could be ripped to shreds, eaten! And humans! The sanctuary is only so large, you two. The moment they leave the sanctuary, there's nothing to stop them being captured by poachers!"

"Mimi, please?" Roberto said, weakly, the blood having drained from his face. "You're not making us feel any better. Those are our_ kids_ you're talking about."

"I'm sorry, Roberto, but it's true." Mimi said, looking petrified. "You have no idea of how dangerous it is, out there. Snakes, poachers -"

"I agree with Roberto, Mimi. Just _stop _talking." Eduardo said, not enjoying the image of his grandchildren being eaten by a snake.

"They're smart and skilled." Sophia cut in. "They won't get hurt, I know it. They're survivors - they all are. But look, kids." Sophia said, her eyes softening as she looked at Isaac and Bromeliad. "It was such a heroic decision… so selfless of you all. But Peru's miles away. Even if they make it home, will it be in time? It'll take a few weeks at least… and Jewel…" she didn't say no more. They all knew how long Jewel had left to live.

"Hold up…" Roberto looked up. "Johanna told me about what she was giving Jewel. It was some miracle plant she'd found, recently. Apparently, it slows down a disease. It doesn't cure it, but… it delays it before it completes its full cycle. It'll add one more week onto Jewel's life expectancy."

"But -" Eduardo began to protest, and then the four macaws began bickering, arguing over their disagreements and opinions. Blu, however, just turned, and slowly walked out Roberto's nest, his tail dragging and collecting dust as he did. Bromeliad and Isaac looked at one another, their faces sorrowful, before they exited their home, leaving the others to argue. Blu trudged through the ferns between Roberto's and his tree, before he disappeared into it, presumably to check on Jewel.

"That went well." Isaac said, flatly. Bromeliad looked at the floor, sighing loudly.

"Come on. We should find Gus and Andrea, or anyone to talk to. This is going to be a long few weeks."

_Meanwhile_

"When are we getting a new home, Kerja?" shouted a female macaw, with a few sour-faced chicks gathered around her. She, alongside many other mother Hyacinths, were making their impatience perfectly clear. "You promised us!"

"Our territory is too small to sustain us!" a male's voice rose above the rest, and there were loud shouts of agreement.

"Shut it!" Kerja ordered once again, her voice loud and raucous. The tribe faded in silence, but they still hissed under their breath. "I did promise you all a new home. And I never break my promises. My father got you all a new home last time, didn't he?" Kerja shouted at them all, despite the quiet. She held up a multi-coloured vine; feathers were tied onto the ends, of countless species. "You all know what this is. A feather, from the species of every tribe we've ever driven out. It's proof of how efficient I am in leading you all, as was my father before me." Kerja held up three feathers - one light blue, one red, and one blue-and-yellow one. "You will see our home expand."

The tribe began cheering as Kerja tied the three feathers onto the end of the vine, adding to the mass of feathers. "Before long, we will occupy the _entire_ sanctuary region. Leaving our Spix's, Scarlet, and Blue-and-Gold friends to the mercy of the outside. They face poachers and predators, while we spread out over three other territories - safe and sound. Your children will grow up in a paradise. Remember!" she cried, straightening. She raised her deformed talon into the air; down below, every tribe member raised their talons, their toes curling in and out to mimic her deformed foot. It was the official sign of respect, for the Hyacinths. "It is much better to be feared… than loved." While the tribe cheered, Kerja turned, and vanished into a hole in the cave wall, her nest. As Kerja hung the string of feathers on the wall, a small form appeared in the entrance.

"Madam Kerja…" said the form. It was a small, female macaw, who looked like a Hyacinth, but was almost half the size. But she wasn't exactly an adolescent; it was clear that there was something wrong with her. To Kerja's surprise, the female began protesting. "Please, I'm begging you. Don't do this - dozens of us could be injured or killed, if you go ahead with your plan. There's a place on the other side of the Amazon. I've seen. It could sustain us, without driving out a tribe… it's just over the river. They'll be no casualties." Kerja whirled round, her grey eyes burning. Slowly, she approached the younger female, leaning close to her.

"I taught you that showing mercy is cowardice. You should show your respect by being on my side." She snarled. The young female flinched as Kerja reached up with her deformed foot, holding her chin up. "You should be grateful. I chose to spare you, even though your egg was half the size of the rest of my clutch. Most Hyacinths would dispose of such a hopeless case, but no, I decided to raise a potential runt or weak chick." This remark made the young macaw feel hurt, and she flinched again. Kerja's voice became dangerously quiet. "Don't you dare disappoint me, Mina. You're my only surviving child, and I need every warrior on my side." Mina was tempted to say something, but she kept it to herself, instead. _That's all I am, to you. I'm not your child, I'm just another warrior for your army._


End file.
